CSS margin shorthand property

Last update on August 19 2022 21:50:33 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

margin shorthand property

CSS margin shorthand property sets all the four margins (top, right, bottom, left) margin of a box.

Syntax:

margin shorthand: width | width | width | width | inherit

Values

width : Width of the margin(a). The following table shows the values used to set width:

Type	Description
Fixed width	Using px, cm, em units, a fixed width is set.
Percentage	Using percentage sign followed by a number, a percentage value is set. The percentage is represented with respect to the width of the box.
auto	User agent sets the width by itself.

inherit : If set, the associated element takes computed value of its parent element's margin shorthand property.

Initial value

Applies to

margin shorthand property can be applied to all elements except elements with table display types other than table-caption, table and inline-table.

Inherited

No.

Percentages

With reference to the width of the containing block.

Media

visual.

Computed value

Either a percentage or absolute value.

Browser compatibility

Browser	Version
Internet Explorer	4.0 and above
Firefox (Gecko)	1.0 and above
Opera	3.5 and above
Safari (WebKit)	1.0 and above

Example of margin shorthand property - set all margins with one value

CSS code:

.w3r {
margin: 50px; /* all margins set to 50px */
}

HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>CSS margin shorthand example one value- w3resource</title>
<link rel='stylesheet' href='example-CSS-margin-short-hand-one-value.css' type='text/css' />
</head>
<body>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>
<p  class="w3r">Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>
</body>
</html>

View this example in a separate browser window

Example of margin shorthand property with one value.

Pictorial presentation

css-margin-shorthand-one-value

Example of margin shorthand property - set all margins with two values

CSS code:

.w3r {
margin: 25px 25px; /* top and bottom = 25px, right and left = 25px */
}

HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>CSS margin shorthand example two values- w3resource</title>
<link rel='stylesheet' href='example-CSS-margin-short-hand-two-values.css' type='text/css' />
</head>
<body>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>
<p  class="w3r">Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>
</body>
</html>

View this example in a separate browser window

Example of margin shorthand property with two values.

Pictorial presentation

Example of margin shorthand property - set all margins with three values

CSS code:

.w3r {
margin: 25px 25px 25px; /* top=25px, right=25px, bottom=25px, left=25px */
}

HTML code :

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>CSS margin shorthand example three values- w3resource</title>
<link rel='stylesheet' href='example-CSS-margin-short-hand-three-values.css' type='text/css' />
</head>
<body>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>
<p  class="w3r">Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</p>
</body>
</html>

View this example in a separate browser window

Example of margin shorthand property with three values.

Pictorial presentation

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