CSS absolute

Places an element relative to its nearest positioned ancestor or the browser window. If an element has position: absolute; declared, it is removed from the normal document flow, so it does not affect the layout of surrounding elements.

Syntax

position: absolute;

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When an element is set to position: absolute, the top, right, bottom, and left properties can be used to offset it from its normal position:

selector {
  position: absolute;
  top: <length>;
  right: <length>;
  bottom: <length>;
  left: <length>;
}

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• A <length> is a measurable property it can have values such as 2px, 30em, and 10pt.

Example 1

This example shows how absolute positioning works when the element is positioned relative to its parent container. By setting top: 0 and left: 0, the .box sticks to the top-left corner of its parent. The top, left, right, or bottom can be adjusted to move it anywhere within the parent.

<div class="container">
  <div class="box">Absolutely Positioned</div>
</div>

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.container {
  position: relative; /* Important: This makes .box position relative to .container */

  /* Optional styles for the example */
  width: 500px;
  height: 300px;
  background-color: #e9ecef;
  border-radius: 8px;
  border: 1px solid #dee2e6;
  margin: 100px auto;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

.box {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0px;
  left: 0px;

  /* Optional styles for the example */
  width: 200px;
  height: 120px;
  background-color: #495057;
  color: #f8f9fa;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  font-size: 18px;
  border-radius: 4px;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}

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Here’s what the above example’s output would look like:

Example 2

In the below example the parent container doesn’t have position: relative (or any positioning), so the element with position: absolute will stick to the browser window.

<div class="container">
  <div class="box">Absolutely Positioned</div>
</div>

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.container {
  /* position: relative; */

  /* Optional styles for the example */
  width: 500px;
  height: 300px;
  background-color: #e9ecef;
  border-radius: 8px;
  border: 1px solid #dee2e6;
  margin: 100px auto;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

.box {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0px;
  left: 0px;

  /* Optional styles for the example */
  width: 200px;
  height: 120px;
  background-color: #495057;
  color: #f8f9fa;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  font-size: 18px;
  border-radius: 4px;
  box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}

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Here’s what the above examples look like: