empty-cells

The empty-cells CSS property sets whether borders and backgrounds appear around <table> cells that have no visible content.

This property has an effect only when the border-collapse property is separate.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
empty-cells: show;
empty-cells: hide;

/* Global values */
empty-cells: inherit;
empty-cells: initial;
empty-cells: unset;

The empty-cells property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

show: Borders and backgrounds are drawn like in normal cells.
hide: No borders or backgrounds are drawn.

Formal definition

Initial value	`show`
Applies to	table-cell elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

show | hide

Example

Showing and hiding empty table cells

HTML

<table class="table_1">
  <tr>
    <td>Moe</td>
    <td>Larry</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Curly</td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table class="table_2">
  <tr>
    <td>Moe</td>
    <td>Larry</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Curly</td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
</table>

CSS

.table_1 {
  empty-cells: show;
}

.table_2 {
  empty-cells: hide;
}

td,
th {
  border: 1px solid gray;
  padding: 0.5rem;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification (CSS 2.1) # empty-cells

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	WebView Android	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet
`empty-cells`	1	12	1	8	4	1.2	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0