CSS margin-left Property

The margin-left property is used to define how much the left margin of the element will be set.

There are some rare situations when width, margin-left, border, padding, the content area and margin-right are defined. When it happens, the margin-left will be ignored and it will be set as if the auto value is defined.

Negative values are allowed.

Initial Value	0
Applies to	All elements. It also applies to ::first-letter.
Inherited	No.
Animatable	Yes. Left margin of the element is animatable.
Version	CSS2
DOM Syntax	object.style.marginLeft = "20px";

Syntax

margin-left: length | auto | initial | inherit;

Example of the margin-left property defined in "px":

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .left { margin-left: 25px;}
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Margin-left property example</h2>
    <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
    <p class="left">Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Another example where the left margin of the element is defined as "8em":

Example of the margin-left property defined in "em":

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .left { margin-left: 8em;}
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Margin-left property example</h2>
    <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
    <p class="left">Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.</p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Here the left margin is specified by "em", "px" and "%" to show the difference:

Example of the margin-left property defined in "px", "em" and "%"

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      p.p1 {
      margin-left: 6em;
      }
      p.p2 {
      margin-left: 40px; 
      }
      p.p3 {
      margin-left: 10%;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Margin-left property example</h2>
    <p>No specified margin.</p>
    <p class="p1"> Left margin is set to 6em.</p>
    <p class="p2">Left margin is set to 40px.</p>
    <p class="p3">Left margin is set to 10%.</p>
    <p>No specified margin</p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description
auto	Sets the left margin. It is the default value of this property.
length	Defines a left margin in px, pt, cm, etc. Default value is 0.
%	Sets the left margin in % of containing element.
initial	Makes the property use its default value.
inherit	Inherits the property from its parents element.

Browser support


1.0+	12.0+	1.0+	1.0+	3.5+

Practice Your Knowledge

In the following code snippet, what value is given for the left margin: margin: 10px 15px 7px 20px;

10px
15px
7px
20px

Do you find this helpful?

Headline