have span that may or may not have text content. is there a way

Question

Editorial Team

Asked: May 21, 20262026-05-21T06:53:45+00:00 2026-05-21T06:53:45+00:00

have span that may or may not have text content.

is there a way to have left and right padding if and only if there is text content?

was thinking of using pseudo classes :first and :last, seeing how some css3 examples make the first character extra large for example.

will this work or is it a pipe dream?

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-05-21T06:53:46+00:00

Editorial Team

There is an :empty pseudo-selector that will do what you need.

span {
  padding:0 20px;
}

span:empty {
  padding:0;
}

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