padding-left
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.
The padding-left CSS property sets the width of the padding area to the left of an element.
Try it
padding-left: 1.5em; padding-left: 10%; padding-left: 20px; padding-left: 1ch; padding-left: 0; <section id="default-example"> <div class="transition-all" id="example-element"> <div class="box"> Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. </div> </div> </section> #example-element { border: 10px solid #ffc129; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; } .box { border: dashed 1px; } An element's padding area is the space between its content and its border.
Note: The padding property can be used to set paddings on all four sides of an element with a single declaration.
Syntax
/* <length> values */ padding-left: 0.5em; padding-left: 0; padding-left: 2cm; /* <percentage> value */ padding-left: 10%; /* Global values */ padding-left: inherit; padding-left: initial; padding-left: revert; padding-left: revert-layer; padding-left: unset; The padding-left property is specified as a single value chosen from the list below. Unlike margins, negative values are not allowed for padding.
Values
<length>-
The size of the padding as a fixed value. Must be nonnegative.
<percentage>-
The size of the padding as a percentage, relative to the inline size (width in a horizontal language, defined by
writing-mode) of the containing block. Must be nonnegative.
Formal definition
| Initial value | 0 |
|---|---|
| Applies to | all elements, except table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-row, table-column-group and table-column. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line. |
| Inherited | no |
| Percentages | refer to the width of the containing block |
| Computed value | the percentage as specified or the absolute length |
| Animation type | a length |
Formal syntax
padding-left =
<length-percentage [0,∞]>
<length-percentage> =
<length> |
<percentage>
Examples
Setting left padding using pixels and percentages
.content { padding-left: 5%; } .side-box { padding-left: 10px; } Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| CSS Box Model Module Level 3 # padding-physical |
Browser compatibility
See also
padding-top,padding-right, andpadding-bottompaddingshorthandpadding-block-start,padding-block-end,padding-inline-start, andpadding-inline-endpadding-blockandpadding-inlineshorthands- Introduction to the CSS basic box model
- CSS box model module