---
name: Lining figures
slug: lining-figures
category: typography
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: Numerals all drawn to cap height so they line up evenly with
  capitals and with each other.
aliases:
  - name: titling figures
  - name: lining numerals
  - name: lnum
    source: opentype
  - name: modern figures
tags:
  - fonts
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - oldstyle-figures
    - tabular-figures
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso: []
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: Lining Figures
    url: https://totallytype.com/figures.php
  - title: "OpenType at Work: Figure Styles (Type Network)"
    url: https://typenetwork.com/articles/opentype-at-work-figure-styles
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: numbers next to capitals or in interface chrome
---

Lining figures are numerals drawn on one line: every digit starts at the
[baseline](/baseline) and stops at roughly the
[cap height](/cap-height), so a row of them makes an even band with no digit
poking up or hanging down. They are the default in almost every typeface
released since the nineteenth century, which is why most people have never
thought about the alternative. Set beside capitals they match, which is exactly
what a date in a heading, a version number in a badge, or a figure in a table
of interface chrome wants.

The alternative is [oldstyle figures](/oldstyle-figures), where the digits take
three different heights: some sit at the x-height, some rise to the ascender,
and some hang below the baseline like lowercase descenders. Those belong in
running prose, where a number set at cap height reads as a small shout in the
middle of a sentence. The rule of thumb is simple: lining where the
neighbours are capitals, oldstyle where the neighbours are lowercase.

It helps to see the two figure decisions as a grid rather than a list, because
they are independent. Height is lining against oldstyle. Width is
[tabular](/tabular-figures) against proportional: tabular gives every digit the
same advance so columns line up down the page, proportional lets each digit take
the width its drawing wants. All four combinations exist and are separately
selectable, so tabular lining is the one for a table of amounts, proportional
oldstyle the one for a paragraph, and the other two corners have their uses
too. In CSS they are two independent keywords on `font-variant-numeric`, one
from each axis, and in OpenType they are the four features `lnum`, `onum`,
`tnum` and `pnum`.

The catch, as ever with OpenType, is that asking is not the same as receiving.
`font-variant-numeric: lining-nums` does nothing unless the loaded face carries
an `lnum` set, and a face whose defaults are already lining has nothing to
switch to. Georgia is the useful counter-example: its default figures are
oldstyle, so it is one of the few widely installed faces where turning lining
figures on visibly changes the page. When the setting appears to do nothing, the
font is the thing to check before the stylesheet.