CSS text-indent Property

Description

The text-indent CSS property is used to control the indentation of the first line of a block-level element's text content. By specifying a positive value, you can push the entire text within the element to the right, creating an indentation. This property is commonly used in paragraphs, lists, and other text-containing elements to create a consistent and visually appealing layout. Negative values can be used to create a hanging indent, where the first line is pushed to the left of the element's content box. text-indent is a helpful tool for controlling the alignment and structure of text within web page elements.

Initial value: 0
Applies to: Block containers
Inherited: Yes
Computed value: Percentage or absolute length
Animatable: No
JavaScript syntax: object.style.textIndent

Interactive Demo

text-indent: 0;

text-indent: 30px;

text-indent: 10%;

text-indent: -20px;

The rusty swing set creaked a lonely lullaby in the twilight, shadows lengthening like grasping fingers across the dew-kissed grass. A lone dandelion seed, adrift on the breeze, whispered secrets of faraway fields, of dandelion suns and galaxies spun from fluff. Somewhere, beyond the veil of dusk, a coyote laughed, echoing through the stillness like a forgotten memory.

Syntax

text-indent: [ <length> | <percentage> ] && hanging? && each-line?

Values

<length>Gives the amount of the indent as an absolute length.
<percentage>Gives the amount of the indent as a percentage of the containing block's logical width.
each-lineIndentation 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.
hangingInverts which lines are indented. All lines except the first line will be indented.
inherit

Example

HTML

<p class="test">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p> 

<p class="test2">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p> 

<p class="test3">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>

CSS

.test {
   text-indent: 0px;
   width: 500px;
}
.test2 {
   text-indent: 40px; 
   width: 500px; 
}
.test3 {
   text-indent: -20px;
   width: 500px; 
}

Result

Editor