What does the CSS rule “clear: both” do?

Question

What does the following CSS rule do:

.clear { clear: both; }

And why do we need to use it?

Answer 1

The clear property indicates that the left, right or both sides of an element can not be adjacent to earlier floated elements within the same block formatting context. Cleared elements are pushed below the corresponding floated elements. Examples:

clear: none; Element remains adjacent to floated elements

body {
  font-family: monospace;
  background: #EEE;
}
.float-left {
  float: left;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.float-right {
  float: right;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.clear-none {
  clear: none;
  background: #FFF;
}

float: left;
float: right;
clear: none;

clear: left; Element pushed below left floated elements

body {
  font-family: monospace;
  background: #EEE;
}
.float-left {
  float: left;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.float-right {
  float: right;
  width: 60px;
  height: 120px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.clear-left {
  clear: left;
  background: #FFF;
}

float: left;
float: right;
clear: left;

clear: right; Element pushed below right floated elements

body {
  font-family: monospace;
  background: #EEE;
}
.float-left {
  float: left;
  width: 60px;
  height: 120px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.float-right {
  float: right;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.clear-right {
  clear: right;
  background: #FFF;
}

float: left;
float: right;
clear: right;

clear: both; Element pushed below all floated elements

body {
  font-family: monospace;
  background: #EEE;
}
.float-left {
  float: left;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.float-right {
  float: right;
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.clear-both {
  clear: both;
  background: #FFF;
}

float: left;
float: right;
clear: both;

clear does not affect floats outside the current block formatting context

body {
  font-family: monospace;
  background: #EEE;
}
.float-left {
  float: left;
  width: 60px;
  height: 120px;
  background: #CEF;
}
.inline-block {
  display: inline-block;
  background: #BDF;
}
.inline-block .float-left {
  height: 60px;
}
.clear-both {
  clear: both;
  background: #FFF;
}

float: left;

  
display: inline-block;
  
float: left;
  
clear: both;