y - Content — ContextQMD

The y CSS property defines the y-axis coordinate of the top left corner of the SVG {{SVGElement("rect")}} shape, {{SVGElement("image")}} image, {{SVGElement("foreignObject")}} viewport and nested {{SVGElement("svg")}} viewport relative to the nearest <svg> ancestor's user coordinate system. If present, it overrides the element's {{SVGAttr("y")}} attribute.

[!NOTE] The y property only applies to {{SVGElement("rect")}}, {{SVGElement("image")}}, {{SVGElement("foreignObject")}}, and {{SVGElement("svg")}} elements nested in an <svg>. It has no effect on outermost <svg> elements and does not apply to other SVG elements nor to HTML elements or pseudo-elements.

Syntax

css

/* length and percentage values */
y: 10px;
y: 10%;

/* Global values */
y: inherit;
y: initial;
y: revert;
y: revert-layer;
y: unset;

Values

The {{cssxref("length")}} and {{cssxref("percentage")}} values denote the y-axis coordinate position of the top left corner of the SVG element.

{{cssxref("length")}}
- : As an absolute or relative length, it can be expressed in any unit allowed by the CSS {{cssxref("<length>")}} data type.
{{cssxref("percentage")}}
- : Percentages refer to the height of the SVG {{SVGAttr("viewBox")}}, if declared, otherwise, the percentage refers to the height of the current SVG viewport.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Defining the y-axis coordinates of SVG shapes

This example demonstrates the basic use case of y, and how the CSS y property takes precedence over the y attribute.

HTML

We include four identical SVG <rect> elements; their {{SVGAttr("x")}} and y attributes values are all 10, meaning the four rectangles are all in the same location, 10px from the top and left corner of the SVG viewport.

html

<svg>
  <rect width="40" height="40" x="10" y="10" />
  <rect width="40" height="40" x="10" y="10" />
  <rect width="40" height="40" x="10" y="10" />
  <rect width="40" height="40" x="10" y="10" />
</svg>

CSS

We style all the rectangles to have a black border and be slightly transparent, so overlapping rectangles are visible. We provide the rectangle with different {{cssxref("fill")}} and y values.

css

svg {
  border: 1px solid;
}

rect {
  fill: none;
  stroke: black;
  opacity: 0.8;
}

rect:nth-of-type(2) {
  y: -20px;
  fill: red;
}

rect:nth-of-type(3) {
  y: 4em;
  fill: yellow;
}

rect:nth-of-type(4) {
  y: 60%;
  fill: orange;
}

Results

{{EmbedLiveSample("Defining the y-axis coordinate of SVG shapes", "300", "180")}}

The top edges of the rectangles are at 10 (from the attribute), -20px, 4em, and 60%, respectively. The rectangle is 40px tall, so the -20px places half the red rectangle outside the viewport. The SVG is 150px tall, so the orange rectangle's top side is 90px from the top of the SVG viewport.

y