Try it

margin-inline: 5% 10%;
writing-mode: horizontal-tb;

margin-inline: 10px 40px;
writing-mode: vertical-rl;

margin-inline: 5% 10%;
writing-mode: horizontal-tb;
direction: rtl;

<section id="default-example">
  <div id="container">
    <div class="col">One</div>
    <div class="col transition-all" id="example-element">Two</div>
    <div class="col">Three</div>
  </div>
</section>

#container {
  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
  display: flex;
  align-content: flex-start;
  justify-content: flex-start;
}
.col {
  width: 33.33%;
  border: solid #ce7777 10px;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
  color: white;
  flex-shrink: 0;
}
#example-element {
  border: solid 10px #ffbf00;
  background-color: #2b3a55;
  unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
}

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

css

/* <length> values */
margin-inline: 10px 20px; /* An absolute length */
margin-inline: 1em 2em; /* relative to the text size */
margin-inline: 5% 2%; /* relative to the nearest block container's width */
margin-inline: 10px; /* sets both start and end values */
margin-inline: anchor-size(width);
margin-inline: calc(anchor-size(self-block) / 5) auto;
/* Keyword values */
margin-inline: auto;
/* Global values */
margin-inline: inherit;
margin-inline: initial;
margin-inline: revert;
margin-inline: revert-layer;
margin-inline: unset;

This property corresponds to the margin-top and margin-bottom, or the margin-right and margin-left properties, depending on the values defined for writing-mode, direction, and text-orientation.

The margin-inline property may be specified using one or two values.

When one value is specified, it applies the same margin to both start and end.
When two values are specified, the first margin applies to the start, the second to the end.

Values

The margin-inline property takes the same values as the margin-top property.

Formal definition

Initial value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `margin-inline-start`: `0` `margin-inline-end`: `0`
Applies to	same as `margin`
Inherited	no
Percentages	depends on layout model
Computed value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `margin-inline-start`: if specified as a length, the corresponding absolute length; if specified as a percentage, the specified value; otherwise, `auto` `margin-inline-end`: if specified as a length, the corresponding absolute length; if specified as a percentage, the specified value; otherwise, `auto`
Animation type	a length

Formal syntax

margin-inline = 
  <'margin-top'>{1,2}  <margin-top> = 
  <length-percentage>  |
  auto                 |
  <anchor-size()>
<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>
<anchor-size()> = 
  anchor-size( [ <anchor-name> || <anchor-size> ]? , <length-percentage>? )
<anchor-name> = 
  <dashed-ident>
<anchor-size> = 
  width        |
  height       |
  block        |
  inline       |
  self-block   |
  self-inline

Examples

Setting inline start and end margins

CSS

css

div {
  background-color: yellow;
  width: 120px;
  height: auto;
  border: 1px solid green;
}
p {
  margin: 0;
  margin-inline: 20px 40px;
  background-color: tan;
}
.verticalExample {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
}

HTML

html

<div>
  <p>Example text</p>
</div>
<div class="verticalExample">
  <p>Example text</p>
</div>

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Logical Properties and Values Module Level 1 # propdef-margin-inline

Browser compatibility

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This page was last modified on Apr 20, 2026 by MDN contributors.