Earnings Per Share – Linde plc Shareholders (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2020	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2020	Jun. 30, 2019
Numerator
Income from continuing operations	$ 458	$ 513	$ 1,029	$ 948
Income from discontinued operations	0	9	2	91
Net Income – Linde plc	$ 458	$ 522	$ 1,031	$ 1,039
Denominator
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares)	525,238,000	542,356,000	528,118,000	543,834,000
Shares earned and issuable under compensation plans (in shares)	272,000	205,000	267,000	199,000
Weighted average shares used in basic earnings per share (in shares)	525,510,000	542,561,000	528,385,000	544,033,000
Stock options and awards (in shares)	3,544,000	3,927,000	3,727,000	3,738,000
Weighted average shares used in diluted earnings per share (in shares)	529,054,000	546,488,000	532,112,000	547,771,000
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ 0.87	$ 0.95	$ 1.95	$ 1.74
Basic earnings per share from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	0.02	0	0.17
Basic Earnings Per Share (in dollars per share)	0.87	0.97	1.95	1.91
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	0.87	0.94	1.93	1.73
Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	0.02	0	0.17
Diluted Earnings Per Share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.87	$ 0.96	$ 1.93	$ 1.90
Antidilutive shares excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)		0	0	0