CanvasRenderingContext2D: lineDashOffset property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.lineDashOffset property of the Canvas 2D API sets the line dash offset, or "phase."

Note: Lines are drawn by calling the stroke() method.

Value

A float specifying the amount of the line dash offset. The default value is 0.0.

Examples

Offsetting a line dash

This example draws two dashed lines. The first has no dash offset. The second has a dash offset of 4.

HTML

html
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

js
const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

ctx.setLineDash([4, 16]);

// Dashed line with no offset
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(0, 50);
ctx.lineTo(300, 50);
ctx.stroke();

// Dashed line with offset of 4
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.strokeStyle = "red";
ctx.lineDashOffset = 4;
ctx.moveTo(0, 100);
ctx.lineTo(300, 100);
ctx.stroke();

Result

The line with a dash offset is drawn in red.

Marching ants

The marching ants effect is an animation technique often found in selection tools of computer graphics programs. It helps the user to distinguish the selection border from the image background by animating the border.

js
const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
let offset = 0;

function draw() {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
  ctx.setLineDash([4, 2]);
  ctx.lineDashOffset = offset;
  ctx.strokeRect(10, 10, 100, 100);
}

function march() {
  offset++;
  if (offset > 5) {
    offset = 0;
  }
  draw();
  setTimeout(march, 20);
}

march();

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# dom-context-2d-linedashoffset-dev

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
lineDashOffset
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 23 (Release date: 2012-11-06)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 7 (Release date: 2011-09-27)
altname
altname Alternate name: mozDashOffset
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 27 (Release date: 2014-02-04)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 15 (Release date: 2013-07-02)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 7 (Release date: 2013-10-22)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 7 (Release date: 2011-09-27)
altname
altname Alternate name: mozDashOffset
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 27 (Release date: 2014-02-04)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 14 (Release date: 2013-05-21)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Uses a non-standard name
Has more compatibility info.

See also