padding

The padding CSS shorthand property sets the padding area on all four sides of an element at once.

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An element's padding area is the space between its content and its border.

Note: Padding creates extra space within an element. In contrast, margin creates extra space around an element.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

css
/* Apply to all four sides */
padding: 1em;

/* top and bottom | left and right */
padding: 5% 10%;

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

/* top | right | bottom | left */
padding: 5px 1em 0 2em;

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

The padding property may be specified using one, two, three, or four values. Each value is a <length> or a <percentage>. Negative values are invalid.

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

Values

<length>

The size of the padding as a fixed value.

<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.

Formal definition

Initial valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Applies toall 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.
Inheritedno
Percentagesrefer to the width of the containing block
Computed valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
  • padding-bottom: the percentage as specified or the absolute length
  • padding-left: the percentage as specified or the absolute length
  • padding-right: the percentage as specified or the absolute length
  • padding-top: the percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animation typea length

Formal syntax

padding = 
  <'padding-top'>{1,4}  

<padding-top> = 
  <length-percentage [0,∞]>  

<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>

Examples

Setting padding with pixels

HTML

html
<h4>This element has moderate padding.</h4>
<h3>The padding is huge in this element!</h3>

CSS

css
h4 {
  background-color: lime;
  padding: 20px 50px;
}

h3 {
  background-color: cyan;
  padding: 110px 50px 50px 110px;
}

Result

Setting padding with pixels and percentages

css
padding: 5%; /* All sides: 5% padding */

padding: 10px; /* All sides: 10px padding */

padding: 10px 20px; /* top and bottom: 10px padding */
/* left and right: 20px padding */

padding: 10px 3% 20px; /* top:            10px padding */
/* left and right: 3% padding   */
/* bottom:         20px padding */

padding: 1em 3px 30px 5px; /* top:    1em padding  */
/* right:  3px padding  */
/* bottom: 30px padding */
/* left:   5px padding  */

Specifications

Specification
CSS Box Model Module Level 3
# padding-shorthand

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also