flex-flow CSS property
Baseline
Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2015.
The flex-flow CSS shorthand property specifies the direction of a flex container, as well as its wrapping behavior.
Try it
flex-flow: row wrap;
flex-flow: row-reverse nowrap;
flex-flow: row wrap balance;
flex-flow: column wrap-reverse;
flex-flow: column wrap;
flex-flow: column balance wrap;
<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
<div class="transition-all" id="example-element">
<div>Item One</div>
<div>Item Two</div>
<div>Item Three</div>
<div>Item Four</div>
<div>Item Five</div>
<div>Item Six</div>
<div>Item Seven</div>
</div>
</section>
#example-element {
border: 1px solid #c5c5c5;
width: 80%;
max-height: 300px;
display: flex;
}
#example-element > div {
background-color: rgb(0 0 255 / 0.2);
border: 3px solid blue;
width: 60px;
margin: 5px 10px;
}
Constituent properties
This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:
Syntax
/* flex-flow: <'flex-direction'> */
flex-flow: row;
flex-flow: row-reverse;
flex-flow: column;
flex-flow: column-reverse;
/* flex-flow: <'flex-wrap'> */
flex-flow: nowrap;
flex-flow: wrap;
flex-flow: wrap-reverse;
flex-flow: wrap balance;
flex-flow: balance wrap-reverse;
/* flex-flow: <'flex-direction'> and <'flex-wrap'> */
flex-flow: row nowrap;
flex-flow: column wrap;
flex-flow: column-reverse wrap-reverse;
flex-flow: row-reverse balance wrap
/* Global values */
flex-flow: inherit;
flex-flow: initial;
flex-flow: revert;
flex-flow: revert-layer;
flex-flow: unset;
Values
See flex-direction and flex-wrap for details on the values.
Description
The flex-flow shorthand property specifies the flex-direction and flex-wrap properties, defining the direction of a flex container and its wrapping behavior. It can also define flex items to be balanced when wrapping is allowed.
For example, column-reverse wrap will set the main-axis to the block direction with a reversed main-start and main-end, with flex items being allowed to wrap, creating new lines if needed.
.container {
flex-flow: column-reverse wrap;
}
To distribute the flex items evenly across each flex line, you can include the flex-wrap keyword balance in addition to wrap:
.container {
flex-flow: column-reverse wrap balance;
}
Formal definition
| Initial value | as each of the properties of the shorthand:
|
|---|---|
| Applies to | flex containers |
| Inherited | no |
| Computed value | as each of the properties of the shorthand:
|
| Animation type | as each of the properties of the shorthand:
|
Formal syntax
flex-flow =
<'flex-direction'> ||
<'flex-wrap'>
<flex-direction> =
row |
row-reverse |
column |
column-reverse
<flex-wrap> =
nowrap |
[ wrap | wrap-reverse ] || balance
Examples
Basic usage
This example demonstrates using the flex-flow shorthand on a flex container so the items are laid out backwards across multiple rows.
HTML
We include a list of words in alphabetical order:
<ul>
<li>Alphabet</li>
<li>Banana</li>
<li>Crayons</li>
<li>Dinosaurs</li>
<li>Eggplant</li>
<li>Foundation</li>
<li>Ghosts</li>
<li>Happy</li>
<li>Igloo</li>
<li>Janitors</li>
<li>Kittens</li>
<li>Lasso</li>
<li>Magic 8-ball</li>
<li>Nincompoop</li>
<li>Orange</li>
<li>Petunia</li>
<li>Quality</li>
<li>Rancid</li>
<li>Shoelace</li>
<li>Terydactyl</li>
<li>Umbrella</li>
<li>Valentine</li>
<li>Westward</li>
<li>Xylophone</li>
</ul>
CSS
We set the <ul> to be a flex container with the display property, define a width, add a gap so there is some room between flex items and flex lines, and then set the flex-flow to wrap the items in reverse order. Additional CSS has been hidden for brevity.
ul {
display: flex;
width: 31em;
gap: 1em;
flex-flow: row-reverse wrap-reverse;
}
Result
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| CSS Flexible Box Layout Module Level 1 # flex-flow-property |