cursor Attribute | cursor Property

Gets or sets the type of cursor to display as the mouse pointer moves over the object.

Syntax

CSS	{ cursor : sCursor }
Scripting	[ sCursor = ] object.style.cursor [ = sCursor ]

Possible Values

sCursor

String that specifies or receives one or more of the following possible values, separated by commas. all-scroll Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and later. Arrows pointing up, down, left, and right with a dot in the middle, indicating that the page can be scrolled in any direction. auto Default. Browser determines which cursor to display based on the current context. col-resize Internet Explorer 6 and later. Arrows pointing left and right with a vertical bar separating them, indicating that the item/column can be resized horizontally. crosshair Simple cross hair. default Platform-dependent default cursor; usually an arrow. hand Hand with the first finger pointing up, as when the user moves the pointer over a link. help Arrow with question mark, indicating help is available. move Crossed arrows, indicating something is to be moved. no-drop Internet Explorer 6 and later. Hand with a small circle with a line through it, indicating that the dragged item cannot be dropped at the current cursor location. not-allowed Internet Explorer 6 and later. Circle with a line through it, indicating that the requested action will not be carried out. pointer Internet Explorer 6 and later. Hand with the first finger pointing up, as when the user moves the pointer over a link. Identical to hand. progress Internet Explorer 6 and later. Arrow with an hourglass next to it, indicating that a process is running in the background. User interaction with the page is unaffected. row-resize Internet Explorer 6 and later. Arrows pointing up and down with a horizontal bar separating them, indicating that the item/row can be resized vertically. text Editable text; usually an I-bar. url(uri) Internet Explorer 6 and later. Cursor is defined by the author, using a custom Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), such as url('mycursor.cur'). Cursors of type .CUR and .ANI are the only supported cursor types. vertical-text Internet Explorer 6 and later. Editable vertical text, indicated by a horizontal I-bar. wait Hourglass or watch, indicating that the program is busy and the user should wait. *-resize Arrows, indicating an edge is to be moved; the asterisk (*) can be N, NE, NW, S, SE, SW, E, or W—each representing a compass direction.

The property is read/write for all objects except the following, for which it is read-only: currentStyle. The property has a default value of auto. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute is inherited.

DHTML expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s). As of Internet Explorer 8, expressions are supported in IE7 Standards mode and IE5 (Quirks) mode only. For more information, see About Dynamic Properties and Defining Document Compatibility.

Remarks

The property handles a comma-separated list of cursor values. If the user agent does not understand or cannot find the first cursor specified, it looks at the next cursor in the comma-separated list and continues until it finds a usable cursor. If the user agent does not understand any of the cursors that are listed, the cursor does not change.

In Internet Explorer 6, The cursor property supports progress, not-allowed, no-drop, vertical-text, all-scroll, col-resize, row-resize, and url(uri) as new cursor styles.

Cursors support many shape, color and movement combinations. This permits you to subtitute the default cursors with your preferred design. For instance, you may want your company logo to display as the "progress" cursor; or your country's flag waving in the wind to display as the "wait" cursor.

Cursors have been the subject of security bulletins and updates. If your custom cursors are not behaving as expected, examine the security settings for your browser along with your cursors. This is a common issue with animated cursors. For an example, refer to TechNet Security Resources and search for "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-002".

Examples

The following examples use the cursor attribute and the cursor property to change the cursor as it passes over an object.

This example uses a call to an embedded (global) style sheet to set the cursor to hand as the cursor passes over all paragraphs.

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<STYLE>
    P { cursor : hand; }
</STYLE>

Code example: http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/dhtml/refs/cursor_h.htm

This example uses inline scripting to set the cursor to hand as the cursor passes over the paragraph.

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<P onmouseover="this.style.cursor='hand'">

Code example: http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/dhtml/refs/cursor_s.htm

This example demonstrates setting a custom cursor, by using the url(uri) value.

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<STYLE>
oBox.style.cursor = "url(" + Some_Uniform_Resource_Identifier + ")";
</STYLE>

Code example: http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/dhtml/refs/cursor_c.htm

Here is a sample of all currently supported cursors, as of Internet Explorer 6.

Code example: http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/dhtml/refs/cursor_a.htm

Standards Information

This property is defined in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 2 (CSS2).

Applies To

A, ADDRESS, APPLET, B, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, CSSStyleDeclaration, currentStyle, CUSTOM, DD, defaults, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, EMBED, FIELDSET, FORM, hn, HR, HTML, I, IFRAME, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LISTING, MARQUEE, MENU, OBJECT, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, RT, RUBY, runtimeStyle, S, SAMP, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, style, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP