Earnings Per Share – Linde plc Shareholders (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Numerator
Income from continuing operations	$ 571	$ 435
Income from discontinued operations	2	82
Net Income – Linde plc	$ 573	$ 517
Denominator
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares)	530,952,000	545,362,000
Shares earned and issuable under compensation plans (in shares)	263,000	192,000
Weighted average shares used in basic earnings per share (in shares)	531,215,000	545,554,000
Stock options and awards (in shares)	3,741,000	3,593,000
Weighted average shares used in diluted earnings per share (in shares)	534,956,000	549,147,000
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ 1.07	$ 0.80
Basic earnings per share from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	0.15
Basic Earnings Per Share (in dollars per share)	1.07	0.95
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	1.07	0.79
Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	0	0.15
Diluted Earnings Per Share (in dollars per share)	$ 1.07	$ 0.94
Antidilutive shares excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)	0	0