How to apply !important using .css()?

I am having trouble applying a style that is !important. I’ve tried:

$("#elem").css("width", "100px !important");

This does nothing; no width style whatsoever is applied. Is there a jQuery-ish way of applying such a style without having to overwrite cssText (which would mean I’d need to parse it first, etc.)?

Edit: I should add that I have a stylesheet with an !important style that I am trying to override with an !important style inline, so using .width() and the like does not work since it gets overridden by my external !important style.

Also, the value that will override the previous value is computed, so I cannot simply create another external style.

The problem is caused by jQuery not understanding the !important attribute, and as such fails to apply the rule.

You might be able to work around that problem, and apply the rule by referring to it, via addClass():

.importantRule { width: 100px !important; }

$('#elem').addClass('importantRule');

Or by using attr():

$('#elem').attr('style', 'width: 100px !important');

The latter approach would unset any previously set in-line style rules, though. So use with care.

Of course, there's a good argument that @Nick Craver's method is easier/wiser.

The above, attr() approach modified slightly to preserve the original style string/properties, and modified as suggested by falko in a comment:

$('#elem').attr('style', function(i,s) { return (s || '') + 'width: 100px !important;' });

I think I've found a solution. I've made it into a new function:

jQuery.style(name, value, priority);

You can use it to get values with .style('name') just like .css('name'), get the CSSStyleDeclaration with .style(), and also set values, with the ability to specify the priority as 'important'. See this.

Example

var div = $('someDiv');
console.log(div.style('color'));
div.style('color', 'red');
console.log(div.style('color'));
div.style('color', 'blue', 'important');
console.log(div.style('color'));
console.log(div.style().getPropertyPriority('color'));

Example output:

null
red
blue
important

---

The Function

(function($) {    
  if ($.fn.style) {
    return;
  }

  // Escape regex chars with \
  var escape = function(text) {
    return text.replace(/[-[\]{}()*+?.,\\^$|#\s]/g, "\\$&");
  };

  // For those who need them (< IE 9), add support for CSS functions
  var isStyleFuncSupported = !!CSSStyleDeclaration.prototype.getPropertyValue;
  if (!isStyleFuncSupported) {
    CSSStyleDeclaration.prototype.getPropertyValue = function(a) {
      return this.getAttribute(a);
    };
    CSSStyleDeclaration.prototype.setProperty = function(styleName, value, priority) {
      this.setAttribute(styleName, value);
      var priority = typeof priority != 'undefined' ? priority : '';
      if (priority != '') {
        // Add priority manually
        var rule = new RegExp(escape(styleName) + '\\s*:\\s*' + escape(value) +
            '(\\s*;)?', 'gmi');
        this.cssText =
            this.cssText.replace(rule, styleName + ': ' + value + ' !' + priority + ';');
      }
    };
    CSSStyleDeclaration.prototype.removeProperty = function(a) {
      return this.removeAttribute(a);
    };
    CSSStyleDeclaration.prototype.getPropertyPriority = function(styleName) {
      var rule = new RegExp(escape(styleName) + '\\s*:\\s*[^\\s]*\\s*!important(\\s*;)?',
          'gmi');
      return rule.test(this.cssText) ? 'important' : '';
    }
  }

  // The style function
  $.fn.style = function(styleName, value, priority) {
    // DOM node
    var node = this.get(0);
    // Ensure we have a DOM node
    if (typeof node == 'undefined') {
      return this;
    }
    // CSSStyleDeclaration
    var style = this.get(0).style;
    // Getter/Setter
    if (typeof styleName != 'undefined') {
      if (typeof value != 'undefined') {
        // Set style property
        priority = typeof priority != 'undefined' ? priority : '';
        style.setProperty(styleName, value, priority);
        return this;
      } else {
        // Get style property
        return style.getPropertyValue(styleName);
      }
    } else {
      // Get CSSStyleDeclaration
      return style;
    }
  };
})(jQuery);

See this for examples of how to read and set the CSS values. My issue was that I had already set !important for the width in my CSS to avoid conflicts with other theme CSS, but any changes I made to the width in jQuery would be unaffected since they would be added to the style attribute.

Compatibility

For setting with the priority using the setProperty function, This Article says there is support for IE 9+ and all other browsers. I have tried with IE 8 and it has failed, which is why I built support for it in my functions (see above). It will work on all other browsers using setProperty, but it will need my custom code to work in < IE 9.

You can set the width directly using .width() like this:

$("#elem").width(100);

Updated for comments: You have this option as well, but it'll replace all css on the element, so not sure it's any more viable:

$('#elem').css('cssText', 'width: 100px !important');

const elem = $("#elem");
elem[0].style.removeAttribute('width');
elem[0].style.setProperty('width', '100px', 'important');

Note: Using Chrome may return an error such as:

> elem[0].style.removeAttribute is not a function

Changing the line to use the .removeProperty function such as to elem[0].style.removeProperty('width'); fixed the issue.

David Thomas’s answer describes a way to use $('#elem').attr('style', …), but warns that using it will delete previously-set styles in the style attribute. Here is a way of using attr() without that problem:

var $elem = $('#elem');
$elem.attr('style', $elem.attr('style') + '; ' + 'width: 100px !important');

As a function:

function addStyleAttribute($element, styleAttribute) {
    $element.attr('style', $element.attr('style') + '; ' + styleAttribute);
}

addStyleAttribute($('#elem'), 'width: 100px !important');

Here is a JS Bin demo.

After reading other answers and experimenting, this is what works for me:

$(".selector")[0].style.setProperty( 'style', 'value', 'important' );

This doesn't work in IE 8 and under, though.

You can do this:

$("#elem").css("cssText", "width: 100px !important;");

Using "cssText" as the property name and whatever you want added to the CSS as its value.

Most of these answers are now outdated, IE7 support is not an issue.

The best way to do this that supports IE11+ and all modern browsers is:

const $elem = $("#elem");
$elem[0].style.setProperty('width', '100px', 'important');

---

Or if you want, you can create a small jQuery plugin that does this. This plugin closely matches jQuery's own css() method in the parameters it supports:

/**
 * Sets a CSS style on the selected element(s) with !important priority.
 * This supports camelCased CSS style property names and calling with an object 
 * like the jQuery `css()` method. 
 * Unlike jQuery's css() this does NOT work as a getter.
 * 
 * @param {string|Object<string, string>} name
 * @param {string|undefined} value
 */   
jQuery.fn.cssImportant = function(name, value) {
  const $this = this;
  const applyStyles = (n, v) => {
    // Convert style name from camelCase to dashed-case.
    const dashedName = n.replace(/(.)([A-Z])(.)/g, (str, m1, upper, m2) => {
      return m1 + "-" + upper.toLowerCase() + m2;
    }); 
    // Loop over each element in the selector and set the styles.
    $this.each(function(){
      this.style.setProperty(dashedName, v, 'important');
    });
  };
  // If called with the first parameter that is an object,
  // Loop over the entries in the object and apply those styles. 
  if(jQuery.isPlainObject(name)){
    for(const [n, v] of Object.entries(name)){
       applyStyles(n, v);
    }
  } else {
    // Otherwise called with style name and value.
    applyStyles(name, value);
  }
  // This is required for making jQuery plugin calls chainable.
  return $this;
};

// Call the new plugin:
$('#elem').cssImportant('height', '100px');

// Call with an object and camelCased style names:
$('#another').cssImportant({backgroundColor: 'salmon', display: 'block'});
    
// Call on multiple items:
$('.item, #foo, #bar').cssImportant('color', 'red');

Example jsfiddle here.

You can achieve this in two ways:

$("#elem").prop("style", "width: 100px !important"); // this is not supported in chrome
$("#elem").attr("style", "width: 100px !important");

There's no need to go to the complexity of @AramKocharyan's answer, nor the need to insert any style tags dynamically.

Just overwrite style, but you don't have to parse anything, why would you?

// Accepts the hyphenated versions (i.e. not 'cssFloat')
function addStyle(element, property, value, important) {
    // Remove previously defined property
    if (element.style.setProperty)
        element.style.setProperty(property, '');
    else
        element.style.setAttribute(property, '');

    // Insert the new style with all the old rules
    element.setAttribute('style', element.style.cssText +
        property + ':' + value + ((important) ? ' !important' : '') + ';');
}

_{Can't use removeProperty(), because it won't remove !important rules in Chrome.
Can't use element.style[property] = '', because it only accepts camelCase in Firefox.}

You could probably make this shorter with jQuery, but this vanilla function will run on modern browsers, Internet Explorer 8, etc.

Here is what I did after encountering this problem...

var origStyleContent = jQuery('#logo-example').attr('style');
jQuery('#logo-example').attr('style', origStyleContent + ';width:150px !important');

If it is not so relevant and since you're dealing with one element which is #elem, you can change its id to something else and style it as you wish...

$('#elem').attr('id', 'cheaterId');

And in your CSS:

#cheaterId { width: 100px;}

This solution doesn't override any of the previous styles, it just applies the one you need:

var heightStyle = "height: 500px !important";
if ($("foo").attr('style')) {
  $("foo").attr('style', heightStyle + $("foo").attr('style').replace(/^height: [-,!,0-9,a-z, A-Z, ]*;/,''));
else {
  $("foo").attr('style', heightStyle);
}

The easiest and best solution for this problem from me was to simply use addClass() instead of .css() or .attr().

For example:

$('#elem').addClass('importantClass');

And in your CSS file:

.importantClass {
    width: 100px !important;
}

Instead of using the css() function try the addClass() function:

  <script>
  $(document).ready(function() {
    $("#example").addClass("exampleClass");
  });
  </script>

  <style>
  .exampleClass{
    width:100% !important;
    height:100% !important;
  }
  </style>

FYI, it doesn't work because jQuery doesn't support it. There was a ticket filed on 2012 (#11173 $(elem).css("property", "value !important") fails) that was eventually closed as WONTFIX.

We need first to remove the previous style. I remove it using a regular expression. Here is an example for changing color:

var SetCssColorImportant = function (jDom, color) {
       var style = jDom.attr('style');
       style = style.replace(/color: .* !important;/g, '');
       jDom.css('cssText', 'color: ' + color + ' !important;' + style); }

An alternative way to append style in head:

$('head').append('<style> #elm{width:150px !important} </style>');

This appends style after all your CSS files so it will have higher priority than other CSS files and will be applied.

May be it look's like this:

Cache

var node = $('.selector')[0];
OR
var node = document.querySelector('.selector');

Set CSS

node.style.setProperty('width', '100px', 'important');

Remove CSS

node.style.removeProperty('width');
OR
node.style.width = '';

I think it works OK and can overwrite any other CSS before (this: DOM element):

this.setAttribute('style', 'padding:2px !important');

Do it like this:

$("#elem").get(0).style.width= "100px!important";

This solution will leave all the computed javascript and add the important tag into the element: You can do (Ex if you need to set the width with the important tag)

$('exampleDiv').css('width', '');
//This will remove the width of the item
var styles = $('exampleDiv').attr('style');
//This will contain all styles in your item
//ex: height:auto; display:block;
styles += 'width: 200px !important;'
//This will add the width to the previous styles
//ex: height:auto; display:block; width: 200px !important;
$('exampleDiv').attr('style', styles);
//This will add all previous styles to your item

#Three working examples

I had a similar situation, but I used .find() after struggling with .closest() for a long time with many variations.

###The Example Code#

// Allows contain functions to work, ignores case sensitivity

jQuery.expr[':'].contains = function(obj, index, meta, stack) {
    result = false;
    theList = meta[3].split("','");
    var contents = (obj.textContent || obj.innerText || jQuery(obj).text() || '')
    for (x=0; x<theList.length; x++) {
        if (contents.toLowerCase().indexOf(theList[x].toLowerCase()) >= 0) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
};

$(document).ready(function() {
    var refreshId = setInterval( function() {
        $("#out:contains('foo', 'test456')").find(".inner").css('width', '50px', 'important');
    }, 1000); // Rescans every 1000 ms
});

###Alternative

$('.inner').each(function () {
    this.style.setProperty('height', '50px', 'important');
});

$('#out').find('.inner').css({ 'height': '50px'});

Working: http://jsfiddle.net/fx4mbp6c/

I would assume you tried it without adding !important?

Inline CSS (which is how JavaScript adds styling) overrides the stylesheet CSS. I'm pretty sure that's the case even when the stylesheet CSS rule has !important.

Another question (maybe a stupid question but must be asked.): Is the element you are trying to work on display:block; or display:inline-block;?

Not knowing your expertise in CSS... inline elements don't always behave as you would expect.

It may or may not be appropriate for your situation but you can use CSS selectors for a lot of these type of situations.

If, for example you wanted of the 3rd and 6th instances of .cssText to have a different width you could write:

.cssText:nth-of-type(3), .cssText:nth-of-type(6) {width:100px !important;}

Or:

.container:nth-of-type(3).cssText, .container:nth-of-type(6).cssText {width:100px !important;}

We can use setProperty or cssText to add !important to a DOM element using JavaScript.

Example 1:

elem.style.setProperty ("color", "green", "important");

Example 2:

elem.style.cssText='color: red !important;'

I also discovered that certain elements or add-on's (like Bootstrap) have some special class cases where they do not play well with !important or other work-arounds like .addClass/.removeClass, and thus you have to to toggle them on/off.

For example, if you use something like <table class="table-hover">the only way to successfully modify elements like colors of rows is to toggle the table-hover class on/off, like this

$(your_element).closest("table").toggleClass("table-hover");

Hopefully this work-around will be helpful to someone! :)

I had the same problem trying to change a text color of a menu-item when "event". The best way I found when I had this same problem was:

First step: Create, in your CSS, a new class with this purpose, for example:

.colorw{ color: white !important;}

Last step: Apply this class using the addClass method as follows:

$('.menu-item>a').addClass('colorw');

Problem solved.

The safest workaround to this is to add a class and then do the magic in CSS :-), addClass() and removeClass() should do the work.

https://jsfiddle.net/xk6Ut/256/

An alternative approach is dynamically creating and updating CSS class in JavaScript. To do that, we can use style element and need to employ the ID for the style element so that we can update the CSS class

function writeStyles(styleName, cssText) {
    var styleElement = document.getElementById(styleName);
    if (styleElement) document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].removeChild(
        styleElement);
    styleElement = document.createElement('style');
    styleElement.type = 'text/css';
    styleElement.id = styleName;
    styleElement.innerHTML = cssText;
    document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(styleElement);
}

...

  var cssText = '.testDIV{ height:' + height + 'px !important; }';
  writeStyles('styles_js', cssText)

Another easy method to solve this issue adding the style attribute:

$('.selector').attr('style', 'width:500px !important');