Business And Geographic Segment Information (Narrative) (Details)	12 Months Ended
Jul. 29, 2012	Jul. 31, 2011	Aug. 01, 2010
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of operating segments	11
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Largest customer, consolidated net sales	17.00%	17.00%	18.00%

Entity Wide Revenue, Major Customer, Percentage Of Net Sales"

No definition available.

Name:	cpb_EntityWideRevenueMajorCustomerPercentageOfNetSales
Namespace Prefix:	cpb_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration