Spacing

A wide range of shorthand responsive margin and padding utility classes to modify an element’s appearance.

Notation

The space utility converts shorthand margin and padding props to margin and padding CSS declarations. The props are named using the format {property}{sides}.

Where property is one of:

m - for classes that set margin
p - for classes that set padding

Where sides is one of:

t - for classes that set margin-top or padding-top
b - for classes that set margin-bottom or padding-bottom
l - for classes that set margin-left or padding-left
r - for classes that set margin-right or padding-right
x - for classes that set both *-left and *-right
y - for classes that set both *-top and *-bottom
blank - for classes that set a margin or padding on all 4 sides of the element

Transformation

Depending on the input and the theme configuration, the following transformation is applied:

input: number & theme: number: the property is multiplied by the theme value.

const theme = {
  spacing: 8,
}

<Box m={-2} /> // margin: -16px;
<Box m={0} /> // margin: 0px;
<Box m={0.5} /> // margin: 4px;
<Box m={2} /> // margin: 16px;

input: number & theme: array: the property is value is used as the array index.

const theme = {
  spacing: [0, 2, 3, 5, 8],
}

<Box m={-2} /> // margin: -3px;
<Box m={0} /> // margin: 0px;
<Box m={2} /> // margin: 3px;

input: number & theme: function: the function is called with the property value.

const theme = {
  spacing: value => value ** 2,
}

<Box m={0} /> // margin: 0px;
<Box m={2} /> // margin: 4px;

input: string: the property is passed as raw CSS value.

<Box m="2rem" /> // margin: 2rem;
<Box mx="auto" /> // margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;

Example

<Box p={1}>…
<Box m={1}>…
<Box p={2}>…

p=1

m=1

p=2

Horizontal centering

<Box mx="auto">…

Centered element

API

import { spacing } from '@material-ui/system';

Import name	Prop	CSS property	Theme key
`spacing`	`m`	`margin`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`mt`	`margin-top`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`mr`	`margin-right`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`mb`	`margin-bottom`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`ml`	`margin-left`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`mx`	`margin-left`, `margin-right`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`my`	`margin-top`, `margin-bottom`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`p`	`padding`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`pt`	`padding-top`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`pr`	`padding-right`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`pb`	`padding-bottom`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`pl`	`padding-left`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`px`	`padding-left`, `padding-right`	`spacing`
`spacing`	`py`	`padding-top`, `padding-bottom`	`spacing`

Some people find the property shorthand confusing, you can use the full version if you prefer:

-<Box pt={2} />
+<Box paddingTop={2} />