The text-indent
CSS property specifies the amount of indentation (empty space) that is put before lines of text in a block. By default, this controls the indentation of only the first formatted line of the block, but the hanging
and each-line
keywords can be used to change this behavior.
/* <length> values */ text-indent: 3mm; text-indent: 40px; /* <percentage> value relative to the containing block width */ text-indent: 15%; /* Keyword values */ text-indent: 5em each-line; text-indent: 5em hanging; text-indent: 5em hanging each-line; /* Global values */ text-indent: inherit; text-indent: initial; text-indent: unset;
Horizontal spacing is with respect to the left (or right, for right-to-left layout) edge of the containing block-level element's content box.
Initial value | 0 |
---|---|
Applies to | block containers |
Inherited | yes |
Percentages | refer to the width of the containing block |
Media | visual |
Computed value | the percentage as specified or the absolute length, plus any keywords as specified |
Animation type | a length, percentage or calc(); |
Canonical order | The length or percentage before the keywords, if both are present. If several keywords are present, they appear in the same order as their appearance in the formal grammar. |
Syntax
Values
<length>
- Indentation is specified as an absolute
<length>
. Negative values are allowed. See<length>
values for possible units. <percentage>
- Indentation is a
<percentage>
of the containing block's width. each-line
- Indentation affects the first line of the block container as well as each line after a forced line break, but does not affect lines after a soft wrap break.
hanging
- Inverts which lines are indented. All lines except the first line will be indented.
Formal syntax
<length-percentage> && hanging? && each-line?where
<length-percentage> = <length> | <percentage>
Simple indent example
HTML
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</p> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</p>
CSS
p { text-indent: 5em; background: powderblue; }
Percentage indent example
HTML
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</p> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</p>
CSS
p { text-indent: 30%; background: plum; }
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Text Module Level 3 The definition of 'text-indent' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Adds the hanging and each-line keywords. |
CSS Transitions The definition of 'text-indent' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Lists text-indent as animatable. |
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'text-indent' in that specification. |
Recommendation | The behavior with display: inline-block and anonymous block boxes is explicitly defined. |
CSS Level 1 The definition of 'text-indent' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
Feature | Firefox (Gecko) | Chrome | Edge | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) | 1.0 | (Yes) | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.0 (85) |
hanging |
No support[1] | No support | No support | No support | No support | No support |
each-line |
No support[1] | No support | No support | No support | No support | No support |
Feature | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | Android | Edge | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 1.0 (1.9.2) | ? | (Yes) | ? | ? | ? |
hanging |
No support | No support | No support | No support | No support | No support |
each-line |
No support | No support | No support | No support | No support | No support |
[1] Gecko does not yet implement this. See bug 784648.
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