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CSS Padding: How to Set Space Inside Elements

CSS padding adds space between content and an element’s border. Learn the shorthand order, how padding differs from margin, and when to use percentages or logical properties.
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Use CSS padding to add space between an element’s content and its border. For example, padding: 16px; adds 16 pixels on all four sides. Margin is different: it adds space outside the border.

How the padding shorthand works

The padding shorthand accepts one to four nonnegative length or percentage values. With four values, read clockwise from the top: top, right, bottom, left.

Values What they set Example
One All four sides padding: 16px;
Two Top and bottom; left and right padding: 12px 20px;
Three Top; left and right; bottom padding: 8px 16px 24px;
Four Top; right; bottom; left padding: 8px 12px 16px 20px;

For example, this gives a card 12 pixels above and below its content and 20 pixels at its left and right:

.card {
  padding: 12px 20px;
}

You can also set a single side with padding-top, padding-right, padding-bottom, or padding-left:

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  padding-top: 8px;
  padding-right: 20px;
  padding-bottom: 16px;
  padding-left: 20px;
}

Padding vs. margin

The box model runs outward from content to padding, border, and margin. Padding is inside the border and creates room around the content; margin is outside the border and creates space between the element and neighboring content. Use padding when text or other content feels too close to its own border. Use margin when you want distance between separate elements. See MDN’s CSS box model guide.

Choosing a value and unit

Lengths such as px, rem, and em give you direct or type-relative spacing. Use percentages when you want padding to scale with the containing block’s inline dimension. The shorthand accepts nonnegative lengths and percentages; negative padding values are invalid. MDN documents the padding property’s syntax and values.

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Percentage padding is based on width in horizontal writing

In ordinary horizontal writing, percentage padding is calculated from the containing block’s width, including top and bottom padding—not from the padded element’s height. For example, if the containing block is 800 pixels wide, padding-top: 10%; resolves to 80 pixels. The CSS 2.1 box model specification describes percentage padding in relation to the containing block’s width; MDN describes it in terms of inline size.

Padding and declared width

Padding is part of an element’s box, so it matters when you set a width. The box-sizing property determines how content and padding contribute to the specified dimensions. If a box seems wider than the width you declared, check its box-sizing behavior as well as its padding.

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Use logical properties when layout follows writing direction

Physical properties such as padding-left always target the left side. For layouts that should adapt to text direction or writing mode, flow-relative properties express the intended axis instead: padding-inline controls the inline axis, while padding-block controls the block axis. Their start and end longhands are available when the two ends need different values. This can make spacing rules more suitable for right-to-left or vertical writing. See MDN’s guide to logical margin, border, and padding properties.

.card {
  padding-inline: 1rem;
  padding-block: 0.75rem;
}

Browser support

MDN marks the established padding shorthand as Baseline Widely available, with cross-browser availability since July 2015; this does not imply the same support history for every newer related CSS feature.

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