Which property is used to center an element horizontally within its container?

The property that is used to center an element horizontally within its container is margin: auto. When you set an element’s left and right margins to auto, the browser automatically calculates equal margins on both sides, thus centering the element horizontally. This technique works effectively when the element has a defined width.

For example, if you have a div with a specific width, applying margin: auto will position that div in the center of its parent container, as the remaining space on either side will be balanced out.

In contrast, using display: block simply changes the display behavior of the element to a block-level element, which can impact how it interacts with other elements but does not inherently center it. The text-align: center property is effective for centering inline content, such as text within a block element, but does not affect block-level elements themselves. Lastly, padding: center is not a valid CSS property and does not apply to element positioning or centering.