CSS padding-top Property

The padding-top property sets the padding space on the top of an element.

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Negative values are not valid.

This property does not affect inline elements, like <span>.

Initial Value	0
Applies to	All elements, except when the display property is set to table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-row, table-column-group and table-column. It also applies to ::first-letter.
Inherited	No.
Animatable	Yes. Padding space is animatable.
Version	CSS1
DOM Syntax	object.style.paddingTop = "10px";

Syntax

padding-top: length | initial | inherit;

Example of the padding-top property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      p {
        border: 2px solid #666;
        color: #8ebf42;
        padding-top: 30px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Padding-top property example</h2>
    <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Example of the padding-top property that is set in "em".

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      p {
        border: 2px solid #666;
        color: #8ebf42;
        padding-top: 4em;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Padding-top property example</h2>
    <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Example of the padding-top property specified in percentage:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      p {
        border: 2px solid #cccccc;
        color: #8ebf42;
        padding-top: 15%;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Padding-top property example</h2>
    <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description	Play it
length	Sets the top padding in px, pt, cm, etc. The default value is 0.	Play it »
%	Sets top padding in % of the width of the containing element.	Play it »
initial	Makes the property use its default value.	Play it »
inherit	Inherits the property from its parents element.