CSS flex-grow Property

❮ Prev Next ❯

The flex-grow property specifies how much the item will grow relative to the rest of items of the flex container. If all items of the container are specified by the flex-grow factor, then all items share the available space. A flexible item’s main size is either its height or width which depends on the value of flex-direction.

This property is one of the CSS3 properties. It is used with the flex-shrink and flex-basis properties.

Watch a video course CSS - The Complete Guide (incl. Flexbox, Grid & Sass)

If there are no flexible items, flex-grow property won't have any effect.

Initial Value	0
Applies to	Flex items, including in-flow pseudo-elements.
Inherited	No.
Animatable	Yes. Items are animatable.
Version	CSS3
DOM Syntax	object.style.flexGrow = "3";

Syntax

flex-grow: number | initial | inherit;

Example of the flex-grow property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .box {
        width: 320px;
        height: 120px;
        border: 2px solid #cccccc;
        display: -webkit-flex; /* Safari */
        display: flex;
      }
      /* Safari 6.1+ */
      .box div:nth-of-type(1) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(2) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 2;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(3) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(4) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(5) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      /* Standard syntax */
      .box div:nth-of-type(1) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(2) {
        flex-grow: 2;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(3) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(4) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(5) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Flex-grow property example</h2>
    <div class="box">
      <div style="background-color: #eeeeee;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #1c87c9;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #8ebf42;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #cccccc;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #666666;"></div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Example of the flex-grow property with an item growing by 6 px:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .box {
        width: 320px;
        height: 120px;
        border: 2px solid #cccccc;
        display: -webkit-flex; /* Safari */
        display: flex;
      }
      /* Safari 6.1+ */
      .box div:nth-of-type(1) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(2) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 6;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(3) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(4) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(5) {
        -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
      }
      /* Standard syntax */
      .box div:nth-of-type(1) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(2) {
        flex-grow: 6;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(3) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(4) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
      .box div:nth-of-type(5) {
        flex-grow: 1;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Flex-grow property example</h2>
    <div class="box">
      <div style="background-color: #eeeeee;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #1c87c9;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #8ebf42;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #cccccc;"></div>
      <div style="background-color: #666666;"></div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description	Play it
number	Specifies how much the item will grow relative to the rest of flexible items of the same container. Default value is 0.	Play it »
initial	Sets the property to its default value.	Play it »
inherit	Inherits this property from its parent element.