files/en-us/web/css/reference/values/initial/index.md
The initial CSS keyword applies the initial (or default) value of a property to an element. It can be applied to any CSS property, including the CSS shorthand property {{cssxref("all")}}. With all set to initial, all CSS properties can be restored to their respective initial values in one go instead of restoring each one separately.
On inherited properties, the initial value may be unexpected. You should consider using the {{cssxref("inherit")}}, {{cssxref("unset")}}, {{cssxref("revert")}}, or {{cssxref("revert-layer")}} keywords instead.
In this example, we use the initial keyword to reset an element's {{cssxref("color")}} and {{cssxref("font-size")}} property values.
<p>
This text is red and large.
<em
>This text is in the initial color (typically black) and initial size
(typically 16px).</em
>
This is red and large again.
</p>
We set color and font-size on the <p> element, then set those properties to initial on the {{htmlelement("em")}} element to reset them.
p {
color: red;
font-size: 2rem;
}
em {
color: initial;
font-size: initial;
}
{{EmbedLiveSample('Using_initial_to_reset_color_for_an_element')}}
With the initial keyword in this example, the color and font-size values on the em element are restored to the initial values for color and font-size, respectively.
{{Specifications}}
{{Compat}}