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
oder 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
.
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 setmargin
p
- for classes that setpadding
Where sides is one of:
t
- for classes that setmargin-top
oderpadding-top
b
- for classes that setmargin-bottom
oderpadding-bottom
s
- (start) for classes that setmargin-left
oderpadding-left
in LTR,margin-right
oderpadding-right
in RTLe
- (end) for classes that setmargin-right
oderpadding-right
in LTR,margin-left
oderpadding-left
in RTLx
- for classes that set both*-left
and*-right
y
- for classes that set both*-top
and*-bottom
- blank - for classes that set a
margin
oderpadding
on all 4 sides of the element
Where size is one of:
0
- for classes that eliminate themargin
oderpadding
by setting it to0
1
- (by default) for classes that set themargin
oderpadding
to$spacer * .25
2
- (by default) for classes that set themargin
oderpadding
to$spacer * .5
3
- (by default) for classes that set themargin
oderpadding
to$spacer
4
- (by default) for classes that set themargin
oderpadding
to$spacer * 1.5
5
- (by default) for classes that set themargin
oderpadding
to$spacer * 3
auto
- for classes that set themargin
to 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 p-2" 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
oder display: flex
, you can make use of gap
utilities on the parent element. This can save on having to add margin utilities to individual children of a grid or flex container. Gap utilities are responsive by default, and are generated via our utilities API, based on the $spacers
Sass map.
<div class="grid gap-3">
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 1</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 2</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 3</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 4</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
.
row-gap
row-gap
sets the vertical space between children items in the specified container.
<div class="grid gap-0 row-gap-3">
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 1</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 2</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 3</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 4</div>
</div>
column-gap
column-gap
sets the horizontal space between children items in the specified container.
<div class="grid gap-0 column-gap-3">
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 1</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 2</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 3</div>
<div class="p-2 g-col-6">Grid item 4</div>
</div>
CSS
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: $spacer * 3,
);
Sass utilities API
Spacing utilities are declared in our utilities API in scss/_utilities.scss
. Learn how to use the utilities API.
"margin": (
responsive: true,
property: margin,
class: m,
values: map-merge($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
),
"row-gap": (
responsive: true,
property: row-gap,
class: row-gap,
values: $spacers
),
"column-gap": (
responsive: true,
property: column-gap,
class: column-gap,
values: $spacers
),