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Default. Items are placed left to right in a horizontal row.
Flex Direction
The flex-direction property defines the main axis direction. Items are laid out along this axis.
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Items are placed right to left in reverse order.
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Items are placed top to bottom in a vertical column.
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Items are placed bottom to top in reverse order.
.container { display: flex; }
.row { flex-direction: row; }
.row-reverse { flex-direction: row-reverse; }
.column { flex-direction: column; }
.column-reverse { flex-direction: column-reverse; }Justify Content
The justify-content property aligns items along the main axis (horizontal for row, vertical for column).
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Items packed at the start of the main axis.
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Items centered along the main axis.
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Items packed at the end of the main axis.
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Equal space between items, no space at edges.
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Equal space around items (half-size at edges).
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Equal space between and around all items.
.start { justify-content: flex-start; }
.center { justify-content: center; }
.end { justify-content: flex-end; }
.between { justify-content: space-between; }
.around { justify-content: space-around; }
.evenly { justify-content: space-evenly; }Align Items
The align-items property aligns items along the cross axis (vertical for row, horizontal for column).
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Default. Items stretch to fill the container height.
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Items aligned to the top of the container.
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Items centered vertically in the container.
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Items aligned to the bottom of the container.
Big
Small
Med
Items aligned by their text baseline.
.stretch { align-items: stretch; }
.start { align-items: flex-start; }
.center { align-items: center; }
.end { align-items: flex-end; }
.baseline { align-items: baseline; }Flex Wrap
The flex-wrap property controls whether items wrap to new lines when they don't fit in the container.
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Item 2
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Default. Items shrink to fit on one line.
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Item 2
Item 3
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Items wrap to new lines when needed.
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Items wrap in reverse, new lines appear above.
.nowrap { flex-wrap: nowrap; }
.wrap { flex-wrap: wrap; }
.wrap-reverse { flex-wrap: wrap-reverse; }Gap
The gap property adds space between flex items without affecting the outer edges. You can also use row-gap and column-gap.
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Small gap between all items.
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Medium gap between all items.
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Large gap between all items.
.gap-sm { gap: 0.5rem; }
.gap-md { gap: 1rem; }
.gap-lg { gap: 1.5rem; }
.gap-xl { gap: 2rem; }
.gap-row-col { row-gap: 1rem; column-gap: 2rem; }Flex grow, shrink, basis — and flex: 1 in CSS
Half the Stack Overflow answers just say “use flex: 1” Here is what that actually expands to: flex-grow, flex-shrink, and flex-basis in one line. Tweak those pieces when equal columns are not quite what you need.
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All items grow equally to fill available space.
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Middle item grows twice as much as others.
Fixed
Grows
Item won't shrink below its content/basis size.
100px
200px
Set the initial size before growing/shrinking.
.grow { flex-grow: 1; }
.grow-double { flex-grow: 2; }
.no-shrink { flex-shrink: 0; }
.basis { flex-basis: 200px; }
/* Shorthand: flex: grow shrink basis */
.flex-1 { flex: 1 1 0%; }
.flex-auto { flex: 1 1 auto; }
.flex-none { flex: 0 0 auto; }Common Flexbox Patterns
Practical flexbox layouts you can use in real projects.
Centered!
Center any element both horizontally and vertically.
Logo
Logo on left, links on right with space-between.
Card
Card
Card
Cards with flex: 1 share space equally.
Responsive footer that wraps on smaller screens.
/* Perfect centering */
.center { display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; }
/* Navigation */
.nav { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; }
/* Equal cards */
.cards { display: flex; gap: 1rem; }
.card { flex: 1; }
/* Footer columns */
.footer { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 2rem; }
.footer-col { flex: 1; min-width: 150px; }