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Spacing

Bootstrap includes a wide range of shorthand responsive margin, padding, and gap utility classes to modify an element's appearance.

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margin and padding

Assign responsive-friendly marginor paddingvalues to an element or a subset of its sides with shorthand classes. Includes support for individual properties, all properties, and vertical and horizontal properties. Classes are built from a default Sass map ranging from .25remto 3rem.

Using the CSS Grid layout module? Consider using the gap utility instead.

notation

Spacing utilities that apply to all breakpoints, from xsto xxl, have no breakpoint abbreviation in them. This is because those classes are applied from min-width: 0and up, and thus are not bound by a media query. The remaining breakpoints, however, do include a breakpoint abbreviation.

The classes are named using the format {property}{sides}-{size}for xsand {property}{sides}-{breakpoint}-{size}for sm, md, lg, xl, and xxl.

Where property is one of:

m- for classes that setmargin
p- for classes that setpadding

Where sides is one of:

t- for classes that set margin-toporpadding-top
b- for classes that set margin-bottomorpadding-bottom
s- (start) for classes that set margin-leftor padding-leftin LTR, margin-rightor padding-rightin RTL
e- (end) for classes that set margin-rightor padding-rightin LTR, margin-leftor padding-leftin RTL
x- for classes that set both *-leftand*-right
y- for classes that set both *-topand*-bottom
blank - for classes that set a marginor paddingon all 4 sides of the element

Where size is one of:

0- for classes that eliminate the marginor paddingby setting it to0
1- (by default) for classes that set the marginor paddingto$spacer * .25
2- (by default) for classes that set the marginor paddingto$spacer * .5
3- (by default) for classes that set the marginor paddingto$spacer
4- (by default) for classes that set the marginor paddingto$spacer * 1.5
5- (by default) for classes that set the marginor paddingto$spacer * 3
auto- for classes that set the marginto auto

(You can add more sizes by adding entries to the $spacersSass map variable.)

Examples

Here are some representative examples of these classes:

.mt-0 {
  margin-top: 0 !important;
}

.ms-1 {
  margin-left: ($spacer * .25) !important;
}

.px-2 {
  padding-left: ($spacer * .5) !important;
  padding-right: ($spacer * .5) !important;
}

.p-3 {
  padding: $spacer !important;
}

horizontal centering

Additionally, Bootstrap also includes an .mx-autoclass for horizontally centering fixed-width block level content—that is, content that has display: blockand a widthset—by setting the horizontal margins to auto.

centered element

<div class="mx-auto" style="width: 200px;">
  Centered element
</div>

negative margin

In CSS, marginproperties can utilize negative values ( paddingcannot). These negative margins are disabled by default , but can be enabled in Sass by setting $enable-negative-margins: true.

The syntax is nearly the same as the default, positive margin utilities, but with the addition of nbefore the requested size. Here's an example class that's the opposite of .mt-1:

.mt-n1 {
  margin-top: -0.25rem !important;
}

gap

When using display: grid, you can make use of gaputilities on the parent grid container. This can save on having to add margin utilities to individual grid items (children of a display: gridcontainer). Gap utilities are responsive by default, and are generated via our utilities API, based on the $spacersSass map.

Grid item 1

Grid item 2

Grid item 3

html

<div class="d-grid gap-3">
  <div class="p-2 bg-light border">Grid item 1</div>
  <div class="p-2 bg-light border">Grid item 2</div>
  <div class="p-2 bg-light border">Grid item 3</div>
</div>

Support includes responsive options for all of Bootstrap's grid breakpoints, as well as six sizes from the $spacersmap ( 0- 5). There is no .gap-autoutility class as it's effectively the same as .gap-0.

Sass

Maps

Spacing utilities are declared via Sass map and then generated with our utilities API.

$spacer: 1rem;
$spacers: (
  0: 0,
  1: $spacer * .25,
  2: $spacer * .5,
  3: $spacer,
  4: $spacer * 1.5,
  5: $spacer * 3,
);

Utilities API

Spacing utilities are declared in our utilities API in scss/_utilities.scss. Learn how to use the utilities API.

    "margin": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin,
      class: m,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-x": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-right margin-left,
      class: mx,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-y": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-top margin-bottom,
      class: my,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-top": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-top,
      class: mt,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-end": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-right,
      class: me,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-bottom": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-bottom,
      class: mb,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    "margin-start": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-left,
      class: ms,
      values: map-merge($spacers, (auto: auto))
    ),
    // Negative margin utilities
    "negative-margin": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin,
      class: m,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-x": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-right margin-left,
      class: mx,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-y": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-top margin-bottom,
      class: my,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-top": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-top,
      class: mt,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-end": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-right,
      class: me,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-bottom": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-bottom,
      class: mb,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    "negative-margin-start": (
      responsive: true,
      property: margin-left,
      class: ms,
      values: $negative-spacers
    ),
    // Padding utilities
    "padding": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding,
      class: p,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-x": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-right padding-left,
      class: px,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-y": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-top padding-bottom,
      class: py,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-top": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-top,
      class: pt,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-end": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-right,
      class: pe,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-bottom": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-bottom,
      class: pb,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    "padding-start": (
      responsive: true,
      property: padding-left,
      class: ps,
      values: $spacers
    ),
    // Gap utility
    "gap": (
      responsive: true,
      property: gap,
      class: gap,
      values: $spacers
    ),