border-color

The border-color CSS property is a shorthand property for setting the color of the four sides of an element's border. Each side can be set individually using border-top-color, border-right-color, border-bottom-color, and border-left-color, or using the writing mode aware border-block-start-color, border-block-end-color, border-inline-start-color, and border-inline-end-color.

You can find more information in Borders in Applying color to HTML elements using CSS

/* border-color: color */ /* the color applies to all sides */ 
border-color: red;

/* border-color: top&bottom right&left */
border-color: red #f015ca;

/* border-color: top right&left bottom */
border-color: red yellow green;

/* border-color: top right bottom left */
border-color: red yellow green blue;

border-color: inherit;

Syntax

Values

color

Is a <color> denoting the color to apply to the edges.

inherit

Is a keyword indicating that all four values are inherited from their parent's element calculated value.

Formal syntax

<color>{1,4}
where 
<color> = <rgb()> | <rgba()> | <hsl()> | <hsla()> | <hex-color> | <named-color> | currentcolor | <deprecated-system-color>
where 
<rgb()> = rgb( [ [ <percentage>{3} | <number>{3} ] [ / <alpha-value> ]? ] | [ [ <percentage>#{3} | <number>#{3} ] , <alpha-value>? ] )
<rgba()> = rgba( [ [ <percentage>{3} | <number>{3} ] [ / <alpha-value> ]? ] | [ [ <percentage>#{3} | <number>#{3} ] , <alpha-value>? ] )
<hsl()> = hsl( [ <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ] | [ <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? ] )
<hsla()> = hsla( [ <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ] | [ <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? ] )
where 
<alpha-value> = <number> | <percentage>
<hue> = <number> | <angle>

Examples

Complete border-color usage

HTML Content

<div id="justone">
  <p><code>border-color: red;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul><li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: red;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="horzvert">
  <p><code>border-color: gold red;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul><li><code>border-top-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: red;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="topvertbott">
  <p><code>border-color: red cyan gold;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul><li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: cyan;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: gold;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: cyan;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>
<div id="trbl">
  <p><code>border-color: red cyan black gold;</code> is equivalent to</p>
  <ul><li><code>border-top-color: red;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-right-color: cyan;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-bottom-color: black;</code></li>
    <li><code>border-left-color: gold;</code></li>
  </ul>
</div>

CSS Content

#justone {
  border-color: red;
}

#horzvert {
  border-color: gold red;
}

#topvertbott {
  border-color: red cyan gold;
}

#trbl {
  border-color: red cyan black gold;
}

/* Set width and style for all divs */
div {
  border: solid 0.3em;
  width: auto;
  margin: 0.5em;
  padding: 0.5em;
}

ul {
  margin: 0;
  list-style: none;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Border-color related CSS properties: border, border-top-color, border-right-color, border-bottom-color, border-left-color,
• Other border-related CSS properteis: border-width, border-style
• The <color> data type
• Other color-related properties: color, background-color, outline-color, text-decoration-color, text-emphasis-color, text-shadow, caret-color, and column-rule-color
• Applying color to HTML elements using CSS