react / react/react-native

【Android&IOS】Percentage calculations ignore the parent container’s padding and are based on the content box instead of the border box.

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Issue: Author Provided Repro Needs: React Native Team Attention Platform: Android Platform: iOS
Dominant language
C++
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 23h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Description

When the parent container has horizontal padding, using
left: '50%' + transform: [{ translateX: '-50%' }]
to center an absolutely positioned element results in the element being centered relative to the content box (excluding padding), rather than the full container width.

This behavior is inconsistent with web CSS, where left: 50% is calculated relative to the border box (including padding).

Additionally, testing shows that setting width: '50%' behaves consistently with left: '50%' — the percentage value is also calculated excluding padding, meaning it uses the content box width as the reference instead of the full container width.

As a result, both position and size percentages are computed relative to the content area, not the visual box including padding.

Both iOS and Android show the same issue

Steps to reproduce
  1. clone the reproduction repo and install dependencies
  2. npm run ios or npm run android
React Native Version

0.82.1、0.77.2

Affected Platforms

Runtime - iOS, Runtime - Android

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info
System:
  OS: macOS 14.2.1
  CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M3
  Memory: 133.56 MB / 16.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 23.10.0
    path: /Users/didi/.nvm/versions/node/v23.10.0/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: /Users/didi/.nvm/versions/node/v23.10.0/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 10.9.2
    path: /Users/didi/.nvm/versions/node/v23.10.0/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2024.10.21.00
    path: /usr/local/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods:
    version: 1.15.2
    path: /usr/local/bin/pod
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 23.4
      - iOS 17.4
      - macOS 14.4
      - tvOS 17.4
      - visionOS 1.1
      - watchOS 10.4
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2023.3 AI-233.14808.21.2331.11709847
  Xcode:
    version: 15.3/15E204a
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.11
    path: /usr/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 3.1.0
    path: /Users/didi/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.0.0
    wanted: 20.0.0
  react:
    installed: 19.1.1
    wanted: 19.1.1
  react-native:
    installed: 0.82.1
    wanted: 0.82.1
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: false
Stacktrace or Logs
no log
MANDATORY Reproducer

https://github.com/yandadaFreedom/RN-bug-repo/tree/bug-left-percent

Screenshots and Videos
Image

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the mandatory reproducer at https://github.com/yandadaFreedom/RN-bug-repo/tree/bug-left-percent and run npm run ios or npm run android. Compare percentage positioning and sizing when the parent has horizontal padding on both platforms; done means the behavior is consistent with the reported border-box expectation on iOS and Android.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
react-native
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
32/100

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