CSS white-space

<!doctype html>
<title>Example</title>
<style>
p {
  font: 300 4vw/1em sans-serif;
  }
p.pre {
  color: limegreen;
  white-space: pre;
  }
</style>
<p class="pre">
   This text
has a 'white-space' setting
   of           
           'pre'
</p>
<p>
   This text

does <em>not</em> have 
  a 'white-space' setting
   of  
         'pre'
</p>

The CSS white-space property is used to control whitespace.

This is can be used to prevent unwanted wrapping, or it can be used to force wrapping where required. It specifies the following:

whether and how white space inside the element is collapsed
whether lines may wrap at unforced soft wrap opportunities

Syntax

Possible Values

normal: Directs user agents to collapse sequences of white space, and break lines as necessary to fill line boxes. As an example, the HTML <p> element behaves this way by default.
pre: Prevents user agents from collapsing sequences of white space. Lines are only broken at preserved newline characters. As an example, the HTML pre element behaves this way by default.
nowrap: Like normal, this value collapses white space, but like pre, it does not allow wrapping.
pre-wrap: Like pre, this value preserves white space; but like normal, it allows wrapping.
pre-line: Like normal, this value collapses consecutive spaces and allows wrapping, but preserves segment breaks in the source as forced line breaks.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial: Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit: Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset: This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

General Information

Initial Value: normal
Applies To: Block level elements
Inherited?: Yes
Media: Visual
Animatable?: No

Example Code

Official Specifications

CSS Text Module Level 3 (W3C Last Call Working Draft 10 October 2013)
CSS Level 2.1 (W3C Recommendation 07 June 2011)
CSS Level 1 (W3C Recommendation 17 Dec 1996)