Spacing
Bootstrap includes a wide range of shorthand responsive margin, padding, and gap utility classes to modify an element’s appearance.
Margin and padding
Assign responsive-friendly margin or padding values 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 .25rem to 3rem.
Using the CSS Grid layout module? Consider using the gap utility.
Notation
Spacing utilities that apply to all breakpoints, from xs to xxl, have no breakpoint abbreviation in them. This is because those classes are applied from min-width: 0 and 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 xs and {property}{sides}-{breakpoint}-{size} for sm, md, lg, xl, and xxl.
Where property is one of:
m- for classes that setmarginp- for classes that setpadding
Where sides is one of:
t- for classes that setmargin-toporpadding-topb- for classes that setmargin-bottomorpadding-bottoms- for classes that setmargin-leftorpadding-leftin LTR,margin-rightorpadding-rightin RTLe- for classes that setmargin-rightorpadding-rightin LTR,margin-leftorpadding-leftin RTLx- for classes that set both*-leftand*-righty- for classes that set both*-topand*-bottom- blank - for classes that set a
marginorpaddingon all 4 sides of the element
Where size is one of:
0- for classes that eliminate themarginorpaddingby setting it to01- (by default) for classes that set themarginorpaddingto$spacer * .252- (by default) for classes that set themarginorpaddingto$spacer * .53- (by default) for classes that set themarginorpaddingto$spacer4- (by default) for classes that set themarginorpaddingto$spacer * 1.55- (by default) for classes that set themarginorpaddingto$spacer * 3auto- for classes that set themarginto auto
(You can add more sizes by adding entries to the $spacers Sass map variable.)
Examples
Here are some representative examples of these classes:
.mt-0 {
margin-top: 0 !important;
}
.ms-1 {
margin-left: ($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-auto class for horizontally centering fixed-width block level content—that is, content that has display: block and a width set—by setting the horizontal margins to auto.
<div class="mx-auto" style="width: 200px;">
Centered element
</div>
Negative margin
In CSS, margin properties can utilize negative values (padding cannot). 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 n before 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 gap utilities on the parent grid container. This can save on having to add margin utilities to individual grid items (children of a display: grid container). Gap utilities are responsive by default, and are generated via our utilities API, based on the $spacers Sass map.
<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 $spacers map (0–5). There is no .gap-auto utility 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 / 4,
2: $spacer / 2,
3: $spacer,
4: $spacer * 1.5,
5: $spacer * 3,
);
$negative-spacers: if($enable-negative-margins, negativify-map($spacers), null);
Utilities API
Spacing utilities are declared in our utilities API in scss/_utilities.scss. Learn how to use the utilities API.
"margin": (
responsive: true,
property: margin,
class: m,
values: map-merge($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
),