How to remove only underline from a:before?

Question

How to remove only underline from a:before?

37.6k views Asked by OptimusCrime At 11 January 2012 at 13:43

I have a set of styled links using the :before to apply an arrow.

It looks good in all browser, but when I apply the underline to the link, I don't want to have underline on the :before part (the arrow).

See jsfiddle for example: http://jsfiddle.net/r42e5/1/

Is it possible to remove this? The test-style I sat with #test p a:hover:before does get applied (according to Firebug), but the underline is still there.

Any way to avoid this?

#test {
  color: #B2B2B2;
}

#test p a {
  color: #B2B2B2;
  text-decoration: none;
}

#test p a:hover {
  text-decoration: underline;
}

#test p a:before {
  color: #B2B2B2;
  content: "► ";
  text-decoration: none;
}

#test p a:hover:before {
  text-decoration: none;
}

<div id="test">
  <p><a href="#">A link</a></p>
  <p><a href="#">Another link</a></p>
</div>

Original Q&A

There are 6 answers

Udders On 11 January 2012 at 13:47

Wrap your links in spans and add the text-decoration to the span on the a:hover like this,

a:hover span {
   text-decoration:underline;
}

I have updated your fiddle to what I think you are trying to do. http://jsfiddle.net/r42e5/4/

Elen On 11 January 2012 at 13:48

try using instead:

#test p:before {
    color: #B2B2B2;
    content: "► ";
    text-decoration: none;
}

will that do?

Bipin Chandra Tripathi On 11 January 2012 at 13:55

use this

#test  p:before {
    color: #B2B2B2;
    content: "► ";

}

LeJared On 20 February 2014 at 08:49

There is a Bug in IE8-11, so using display:inline-block; alone won't work there.

I've found a solution for this bug, by explicitly setting text-decoration:underline; for the :before-content and then overwrite this rule again with text-decoration:none;

a {text-decoration:none;}
a:hover {text-decoration:underline;}
a:before {content:'>\a0'; text-decoration:underline; display:inline-block;}
a:before,
a:hover:before {text-decoration:none;}

Working example here: http://jsfiddle.net/95C2M/

Update: Since jsfiddle does not work with IE8 anymore, just paste this simple demo-code in a local html file and open it in IE8:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>demo</title>
    <style type="text/css">
        a {text-decoration:none;}
        a:hover {text-decoration:underline;}
        a:before {content:'>\a0'; text-decoration:underline; display:inline-block;}
        a:before,
        a:hover:before {text-decoration:none;}
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <a href="#">Testlink</a> With no Underline on hover under before-content
</body>
</html>

Oriol On 27 June 2013 at 15:19

You can do it adding the following to the :before element:

display: inline-block;
white-space: pre-wrap;

With display: inline-block the underline disappears. But then the problem is that the space after the triangle collapses and is not shown. To fix it, you can use white-space: pre-wrap or white-space: pre.

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/r42e5/9/

**Phrogz** · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11 13:56:05

Is it possible to remove this?

Yes, if you change the display style of the inline element from display:inline (the default) to display:inline-block:

#test p a:before {
    color: #B2B2B2;
    content: "► ";
    display:inline-block;
}

This is because the CSS specs say:

When specified on or propagated to an inline element, it affects all the boxes generated by that element, and is further propagated to any in-flow block-level boxes that split the inline (see section 9.2.1.1). […] For all other elements it is propagated to any in-flow children. Note that text decorations are not propagated to floating and absolutely positioned descendants, nor to the contents of atomic inline-level descendants such as inline blocks and inline tables.

(Emphasis mine.)

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/r42e5/10/

_{Thanks to @Oriol for providing the workaround that prompted me to check the specs and see that the workaround is legal.}

TechQA.

How to remove only underline from a:before?

There are 6 answers

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/r42e5/10/

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