CSS border-inline-start-style Property

What You’ll Learn

The border-inline-start-style property sets the line style of the border on the inline-start side only.

Definition and Usage

The border-inline-start-style CSS property controls how the border line is drawn on the inline-start side of an element. It is a longhand of border-inline-start and accepts the same style keywords as standard border properties.

Unlike border-left-style, which always targets the physical left side, border-inline-start-style adapts to writing mode and text direction — useful for RTL layouts and multilingual interfaces.

📝 Syntax

border-inline-start-style accepts standard border style keywords:

selector {
  border-inline-start-style: style;
}

Basic Example

p {
  border-inline-start-style: solid;
  border-inline-start-width: 4px;
  border-inline-start-color: black;
}

Syntax Rules

• Accepts none, solid, dashed, dotted, double, and 3D styles.
• Only affects the inline-start border side; other sides keep their own styles.
• You need a width greater than zero for the style to be visible.
• The physical side mapped to inline-start depends on direction and writing-mode.
• Default is none, which draws no border on inline-start.

Default Value

The default value of border-inline-start-style is none. No inline-start border is drawn until you set a visible style such as solid or dashed.

💎 Property Values

Common Style Types

Inline-Start Style and Writing Modes

border-inline-start-style always applies to the start of the inline axis. The physical side changes with text direction.

border-inline-start-style vs related properties

Examples Gallery

Try border-inline-start-style with solid, mixed styles, dotted, and RTL layouts.

<style>
  p {
    border-inline-start-style: solid;
    border-inline-start-width: 4px;
    border-inline-start-color: black;
    padding: 0.75rem 1rem;
  }
</style>

<p>This paragraph has a solid border on the inline-start side.</p>

.card {
  border: 2px solid #cbd5e1;
  border-inline-start-style: dashed;
  border-inline-start-color: #2563eb;
  padding: 1rem;
  background: #eff6ff;
}

.note {
  border-inline-start: 3px dotted #7c3aed;
  padding: 0.75rem 1rem;
  background: #faf5ff;
}

<style>
  .rtl-box {
    direction: rtl;
    border-inline-start-style: dashed;
    border-inline-start-width: 3px;
    border-inline-start-color: #059669;
    padding: 0.75rem 1rem;
    background: #ecfdf5;
  }
</style>

<div class="rtl-box">
  حد منقط ابتدائي مكسور
</div>

💡 Best Practices