Property Use Logical is a stylelint rule to enforce the usage of Logical Properties and Values in CSS.
Physical dimensions and directions are described left to right and top to bottom, while their logical counterparts are described start to end and inline or block.
For example, to add spacing before the start of a paragraph, we might use the
physical padding-left
property.
p {
padding-left: 2em;
}
Were the content Hebrew or Arabic — flowing right to left — then we might
use alternating padding-left
and padding-right
properties.
p:dir(ltr) {
padding-left: 2em;
}
p:dir(rtl) {
padding-right: 2em;
}
Selector weight aside, we can instead use the logical padding-inline-start
property.
p {
padding-inline-start: 2em;
}
Similarly, physical horizontal and vertical dimensions are described more succinctly using their logical counterparts.
h1, h2, h3 {
margin-top: 1em;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}
blockquote {
margin-left: 1em;
margin-right: 1em;
}
/* becomes */
h1, h2, h3 {
margin-block: 1em;
}
blockquote {
margin-inline: 1em;
}
Add stylelint and Property Use Logical to your project.
npm install stylelint stylelint-use-logical --save-dev
Add Property Use Logical to your stylelint configuration.
{
"plugins": [
"stylelint-use-logical"
],
"rules": {
"csstools/use-logical": ("always" || true) || ("ignore" || false || null)
}
}
The "always"
option (alternatively true
) requires logical properties and
values to be used, and the following patterns are not considered violations:
.inset {
inset: 0;
}
.margin {
margin-inline-start: 0;
}
.padding {
padding-inline: 0;
}
.float {
float: inline-start;
}
.text-align {
text-align: start;
}
.text-align-ignored:dir(ltr) {
text-align: left;
}
While the following patterns are considered violations:
.inset {
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
}
.margin {
margin-left: 0;
}
.padding {
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
}
.float {
float: left;
}
.text-align {
text-align: left;
}
The "ignore"
option (alternatively false
or null
) disables the rule.
The except
option ignores reporting or autofixing properties and values
matching a case-insensitive string or regular expression.
{
"rules": {
"csstools/use-logical": ["always", { "except": ['float', /^margin/i] }]
}
}
The direction
option controls whether left to right or right to left
properties and values should be reported or autofixed.
{
"rules": {
"csstools/use-logical": ["always", { "direction": "ltr" || "rtl" }]
}
}
Assuming left to right directionality:
Physical Property | Logical Property |
---|---|
top |
inset-block-start |
right |
inset-inline-end |
bottom |
inset-block-end |
left |
inset-inline-start |
Physical Property | Logical Property |
---|---|
margin-top |
margin-block-start |
margin-right |
margin-inline-end |
margin-bottom |
margin-block-end |
margin-left |
margin-inline-start |
Physical Property | Logical Property |
---|---|
padding-top |
padding-block-start |
padding-right |
padding-inline-end |
padding-bottom |
padding-block-end |
padding-left |
padding-inline-start |
Physical Property | Logical Property |
---|---|
width |
inline-size |
min-width |
min-inline-size |
max-width |
max-inline-size |
height |
block-size |
min-height |
min-block-size |
max-height |
max-block-size |