margin-left

The margin-left CSS property sets the margin area on the left side of an element. A positive value will place it farther than normal from its neighbors, while a negative value will place it closer.

/* <length> values */
margin-left: 10px;  /* An absolute length */
margin-left: 1em;   /* relative to the text size */
margin-left: 5%;    /* relative to the nearest block container's width */

/* Keyword values */
margin-left: auto;

/* Global values */
margin-left: inherit;
margin-left: initial;
margin-left: unset;

The vertical margins of two adjacent boxes may fuse. This is called margin collapsing.

In the rare cases where width is overconstrained (i.e., when all of width, margin-left, border, padding, the content area, and margin-right are defined), margin-left is ignored, and will have the same calculated value as if the auto value was specified.

Syntax

The margin-left property is specified as the keyword auto, or a <length>, or a <percentage>. Its value can be positive, zero, or negative.

Values

<length>

The size of the margin as a fixed value.

<percentage>

The size of the margin as a percentage, relative to the width of the containing block.

auto

The left margin receives a share of the unused horizontal space, as determined mainly by the layout mode that is used. If the values of margin-left and margin-right are both auto, the calculated space is evenly distributed. This table summarizes the different cases:

Value of display	Value of float	Value of position	Computed value of auto	Comment
inline, inline-block, inline-table	any	static or relative	0	Inline layout mode
block, inline, inline-block, block, table, inline-table, list-item, table-caption	any	static or relative	0, except if both margin-left and margin-right are set to auto. In this case, it is set to the value centering the element inside its parent.	Block layout mode
block, inline, inline-block, block, table, inline-table, list-item, table-caption	left or right	static or relative	0	Block layout mode (floating element)
any table-*, except table-caption	any	any	0	Internal table-* elements don't have margins, use border-spacing instead
any, except flex, inline-flex, or table-*	any	fixed or absolute	0, except if both margin-left and margin-right are set to auto. In this case, it is set to the value centering the border area inside the available width, if fixed.	Absolutely positioned layout mode
flex, inline-flex	any	any	0, except if there is any positive horizontal free space. In this case, it is evenly distributed to all horizontal auto margins.	Flexbox layout mode

Formal syntax

<length> | <percentage> | auto

Examples

.content { margin-left: 5%; }
.sidebox { margin-left: 10px; }
.logo    { margin-left: -5px; }

Specifications

Browser compatibility