css absolute position won't work with margin-left:auto margin-right: auto

EDIT : this answer used to claim that it isn't possible to center an absolutely positioned element with margin: auto;, but this simply isn't true. Because this is the most up-voted and accepted answer, I guessed I'd just change it to be correct.

When you apply the following CSS to an element

position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
margin: auto;

And then give the element a fixed width and height, such as 200px or 40%, the element will center itself.

Here's a Fiddle that demonstrates the effect.

I've used this trick to center an absolutely positioned element. Though, you have to know the element's width.

.divtagABS {
    width: 100px;
    position: absolute;
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -50px;
  }

Basically, you use left: 50%, then back it out half of it's width with a negative margin.

if the absolute element has a width,you can use the code below

.divtagABS{
    width:300px;
    positon:absolute;
    left:0;
    right:0;
    margin:0 auto;
}