margin

The margin CSS shorthand property sets the margin area on all four sides of an element.

css

margin: 1em;

css

margin: 5% 0;

css

margin: 10px 50px 20px;

css

margin: 10px 50px 20px 0;

css

margin: 0;

html

<section id="default-example">
  <div id="container">
    <div class="row"></div>
    <div class="row transition-all" id="example-element"></div>
    <div class="row"></div>
  </div>
</section>

css

#container {
  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
  display: flex;
  align-content: flex-start;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: flex-start;
}

.row {
  height: 33.33%;
  display: inline-block;
  border: solid #ce7777 10px;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
  flex-shrink: 0;
}

#example-element {
  border: solid 10px #ffbf00;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
}

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

{{cssxref("margin-top")}}
{{cssxref("margin-right")}}
{{cssxref("margin-bottom")}}
{{cssxref("margin-left")}}

Syntax

css

/* apply to all four sides */
margin: 1em;
margin: -3px;

/* top and bottom | left and right */
margin: 5% auto;

/* top | left and right | bottom */
margin: 1em auto 2em;

/* top | right | bottom | left */
margin: 2px 1em 0 auto;

/* anchor-size() values */
margin: 5% anchor-size(width);
margin: calc(anchor-size(width) / 4) 1em 0
  anchor-size(--my-anchor self-inline, 50px);

/* Keyword values */
margin: auto;

/* Global values */
margin: inherit;
margin: initial;
margin: revert;
margin: revert-layer;
margin: unset;

The margin property may be specified using one, two, three, or four values. Each value is a {{cssxref("<length>")}}, a {{cssxref("<percentage>")}}, or the keyword auto. Negative values draw the element closer to its neighbors than it would be by default.

When one value is specified, it applies the same margin to all four sides.
When two values are specified, the first margin applies to the top and bottom, the second to the left and right.
When three values are specified, the first margin applies to the top, the second to the right and left, the third to the bottom.
When four values are specified, the margins apply to the top, right, bottom, and left in that order (clockwise).

Values

{{cssxref("length")}}
- : The size of the margin as a fixed value.
  - For anchor-positioned elements, the {{cssxref("anchor-size()")}} function resolves to a {{cssxref("<length>")}} value relative to the associated anchor element's width or height (see Setting element margin based on anchor size).
{{cssxref("percentage")}}
- : The size of the margin as a percentage, relative to the inline size (width in a horizontal language, defined by {{cssxref("writing-mode")}}) of the containing block.
auto
- : The browser selects a suitable margin to use. For example, in certain cases this value can be used to center an element.

Description

This property can be used to set a margin on all four sides of an element. Margins create extra space around an element, unlike {{cssxref("padding")}}, which creates extra space within an element.

The top and bottom margins have no effect on non-replaced inline elements, such as {{HTMLElement("span")}} or {{HTMLElement("code")}}.

Horizontal centering

You can horizontally center an element within its parent by setting margin: 0 auto;.

A more common method to center an element horizontally is by setting display: flex; and justify-content: center; on a container, which centers its flex item children.

Margin collapsing

Elements' top and bottom margins are sometimes collapsed into a single margin that is equal to the larger of the two margins. See Mastering margin collapsing for more information.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Basic example

HTML