```css

/* <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: revert;

text-indent: revert-layer;

text-indent: unset;

```

### Values

- {{cssxref("&lt;length&gt;")}}

- : Indentation is specified as an absolute {{cssxref("&lt;length&gt;")}}. Negative values are allowed. See {{cssxref("&lt;length&gt;")}} values for possible units.

- {{cssxref("&lt;percentage&gt;")}}

- : Indentation is a {{cssxref("&lt;percentage&gt;")}} 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.

{{CSSInfo}}

{{csssyntax}}

### Simple indent

#### HTML

```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

```css

p {

text-indent: 5em;

background: powderblue;

}

```

#### Result

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Simple_indent','100%','100%') }}

### Skipping indentation on the first paragraph

A common typographic practice when paragraph indentation is present is to skip the indentation for the first paragraph. As the _The Chicago Manual of Style_ puts it, "the first line of text following a subhead may begin flush left or be indented by the usual paragraph indention."

Treating first paragraphs differently from subsequent paragraphs can be done using the [next-sibling combinator](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Next-sibling_combinator), as in the following example:

#### HTML

```html

<h2>Lorem ipsum</h2>

<p>

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse eu

venenatis quam. Vivamus euismod eleifend metus vitae pharetra. In vel tempor

metus. Donec dapibus feugiat euismod. Vivamus interdum tellus dolor. Vivamus

blandit eros et imperdiet auctor. Mauris sapien nunc, condimentum a efficitur

non, elementum ac sapien. Cras consequat turpis non augue ullamcorper, sit

amet porttitor dui interdum.

</p>

<p>

Sed laoreet luctus erat at rutrum. Proin velit metus, luctus in sapien in,

tincidunt mattis ex. Praesent venenatis orci at sagittis eleifend. Nulla

facilisi. In feugiat vehicula magna iaculis vehicula. Nulla suscipit tempor

odio a semper. Donec vitae dapibus ipsum. Donec libero purus, convallis eu

efficitur id, pulvinar elementum diam. Maecenas mollis blandit placerat. Ut

gravida pellentesque nunc, in eleifend ante convallis sit amet.

</p>

<h2>Donec ullamcorper elit nisl</h2>

<p>

Donec ullamcorper elit nisl, sagittis bibendum massa gravida in. Fusce tempor

in ante gravida iaculis. Integer posuere tempor metus. Vestibulum lacinia,

nunc et dictum viverra, urna massa aliquam tellus, id mollis sem velit

vestibulum nulla. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et

malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec vulputate leo ut iaculis ultrices.

Cras egestas rhoncus lorem. Nunc blandit tempus lectus, rutrum hendrerit orci

eleifend id. Ut at quam velit.

</p>

<p>

Aenean rutrum tempor ligula, at luctus ligula auctor vestibulum. Sed

sollicitudin velit in leo fringilla sollicitudin. Proin eu gravida arcu. Nam

iaculis malesuada massa, eget aliquet turpis sagittis sed. Sed mollis tellus

ac dui ullamcorper, nec lobortis diam pellentesque. Quisque dapibus accumsan

libero, sed euismod ipsum ullamcorper sed.

</p>

```

#### CSS

```css

p {

text-align: justify;

margin: 1em 0 0 0;

}

p + p {

text-indent: 2em;

margin: 0;

}

```

#### Result

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Skipping_indentation_on_the_first_paragraph','','500px') }}

### Percentage indent

#### HTML

```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

```css

p {

text-indent: 30%;

background: plum;

}

```

#### Result

{{ EmbedLiveSample('Percentage_indent','100%','100%') }}

{{Specifications}}

{{Compat}}

- [Learn to style HTML using CSS](/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS)

- Related CSS properties:

- [`text-justify`](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-justify)

- [`text-orientation`](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-orientation)

- [`text-overflow`](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-overflow)

- [`text-rendering`](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-rendering)

- [`text-transform`](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-transform)

- {{cssxref('hanging-punctuation')}}

- [CSS Text Decoration](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_text_decoration) CSS module

- [CSS Text module](/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_text)