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pageBreakBefore style property

Browser support:

Specifies or returns whether a page break occurs before the object when printing.

This property doesn't take any effect on absolutely positioned elements. The page break is only visible in a print preview or when printing. If you need other page breaking rules, use the pageBreakAfter and pageBreakInside properties.

Syntax:

object.pageBreakBefore;

You can find the related objects in the Supported by objects section below.

This property is read/write.

CSS page for this property: page-break-before

Possible values:

The type of this property is string.

One of the following values:

always

Always force a page break before the element.

auto

Default. Insert a page break before the element when necessary.

avoid

Avoid a page break before the current element.

empty string

Page break is not inserted before the element.

inherit

Takes the value of this property from the computed style of the parent element.

left

Force one or two page breaks before the current element, so that the next page is considered a left page.

right

Force one or two page breaks before the current element, so that the next page is considered a right page.

Default: auto.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the page-break-before property:

<head>
    <style>
        .example {
            page-break-before: always;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    Please open the print preview to see the result!
    <p class="example">page break before this element</p>
    text content
</body>

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Example HTML code 2:

This example illustrates the use of the pageBreakBefore property in JavaScript:

<head>
    <style>
        h1 {
            page-break-before: always;
        }
    </style>

    <script type="text/javascript">
        function ChangePageBreak (selectTag) {
            // Returns the index of the selected option
            var whichSelected = selectTag.selectedIndex;

            // Returns the selected option value
            var breakRule = selectTag.options[whichSelected].value;

            // Rules within first styleSheet
            var sheet = document.styleSheets[0];
            var rules = sheet.cssRules ? sheet.cssRules : sheet.rules;

            // Set the page-break for h1 CSS rule
            rules[0].style.pageBreakBefore = breakRule;
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    Content before the header
    <h1>Header element</h1>
    Content after the header

    <br /><br />
    <span style="color:#FF0000;">Please open the print preview to see the page break rules in action.</span>
    <br /><br />

    <select onchange="ChangePageBreak (this);" size="5">
        <option selected="selected" value="always" />always
        <option value="auto" />auto
        <option value="" />empty string
        <option value="left" />left
        <option value="right" />right
    </select>
</body>