Question
Answer and Explanation
The word-break property in CSS, not a meta tag, is used to specify how words should break when they reach the end of a line. It's particularly useful when dealing with long words or strings of characters that might overflow their container. The word-break property controls whether the browser can insert line breaks within words to prevent such overflow.
Here are the common values for the word-break property:
1. normal: This is the default behavior. Line breaks happen according to the normal rules for the language. Words break only at allowed break points.
2. break-all: Words can be broken at any character to prevent overflow. This is useful for languages like Chinese, Japanese, or Korean (CJK) where words don't always have explicit spaces between them.
3. keep-all: Words should not be broken under any circumstances. This is suitable for languages that do not allow word breaking, such as Japanese.
4. break-word: This value is now often replaced by overflow-wrap: anywhere. It allows words to be broken if they overflow their container, but prefers to break at normal break points if possible.
Here’s an example of how to use the word-break property in CSS:
.element {
word-break: break-all;
}
This CSS rule, when applied to an HTML element with the class "element", will allow words to be broken at any character if they overflow their container.
It's important to note that while word-break is useful, consider using overflow-wrap: anywhere for a more modern approach. overflow-wrap: anywhere offers similar functionality to word-break: break-word but is more widely supported and better aligns with modern CSS practices.
Example:
.element {
overflow-wrap: anywhere;
}
In summary, the word-break property, especially when considering alternatives like overflow-wrap: anywhere, helps manage how text wraps within elements, preventing text overflow and maintaining layout integrity in web pages.