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<s>

The <s> renders text with a strikethrough, or a line through it. Use the <s> element to represent things that are no longer relevant or no longer accurate. However, <s> is not appropriate when indicating document edits; for that, use the <del> and <ins> elements, as appropriate.

Content categories Phrasing content or flow content.
Permitted content Phrasing content.
Tag omission None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts phrasing content.
Permitted ARIA roles Any
DOM interface HTMLElement

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Implementation note: Up to Gecko 1.9.2 inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element.

Example

<s>Today's Special: Salmon</s> SOLD OUT<br>
<span style="text-decoration:line-through;">Today's Special:
  Salmon</span> SOLD OUT

Result

Today's Special: Salmon SOLD OUT
Today's Special: Salmon SOLD OUT

Accessibility concerns

The presence of the s element is not announced by most screen reading technology in its default configuration. It can be made to be announced by using the CSS content property, along with the ::before and ::after pseudo-elements.

s::before, 
s::after {
  clip-path: inset(100%);
  clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);
  height: 1px;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: absolute;
  white-space: nowrap;
  width: 1px;
}

s::before {
  content: " [start of stricken text] ";
}

s::after {
  content: " [end of stricken text] ";
}

Some people who use screen readers deliberately disable announcing content that creates extra verbosity. Because of this, it is important to not abuse this technique and only apply it in situations where not knowing content has been struck out would adversely affect understanding.

Specifications

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

Desktop
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support Yes Yes 1
1
Before Firefox 4, this element implemented the HTMLSpanElement interface instead of the standard HTMLElement interface.
Yes Yes Yes
Mobile
Android webview Chrome for Android Edge Mobile Firefox for Android Opera for Android iOS Safari Samsung Internet
Basic support Yes Yes Yes 4 Yes Yes Yes

See Also

  • The <strike> element, alter ego of the <s> element is obsolete and should not be used on Web sites any more.
  • The <del> element is to be used instead if the data has been deleted.
  • The CSS text-decoration-line-through property is to be used to achieve the former visual aspect of the <s> element.

© 2005–2018 Mozilla Developer Network and individual contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/s