CSS place-items Property

The CSS place-items property is a shorthand for the following properties:

Abovementioned properties have gained use with the introduction of Flexbox and Grid layouts, but are also applied to:

absolutely-positioned boxes
block-level boxes
static-position of absolutely positioned boxes
table cells

The place-items property behaves differently depending on the user context.

Read about the behavior of the place-items property in different contexts below.

Initial Value	normal legacy
Applies to	All elements.
Inherited	No.
Animatable	No.
Version	CSS3
DOM Syntax	object.style.placeItemsw = "normal";

Syntax

place-items: auto | normal | start | end | flex-start | flex-end | self-start | self-end | center | left | right | baseline | first baseline | last baseline | stretch | initial | inherit;

Example of the place-items property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      #container {
        height: 150px;
        width: 150px;
        place-items: flex-end;
        background-color: #ccc;
      }
      .flex {
        display: flex;
        flex-wrap: wrap;
      }
      div > div {
        box-sizing: border-box;
        border: 1px solid #666;
        width: 50px;
        display: flex;
        align-items: center;
        justify-content: center;
      }
      #box1 {
        background-color: #1c87c9;
        min-height: 50px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Place-items property example</h2>
    <h3>place-items: flex-end</h3>
    <div id="container" class="flex">
      <div id="box1">1</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Example of the place-items property with the "center" value:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document </title>
    <style>
      #container {
        height: 200px;
        width: 230px;
        place-items: center;
        background-color: #ccc;
      }
      .flex {
        display: flex;
        flex-wrap: wrap;
      }
      div > div {
        box-sizing: border-box;
        border: 3px solid #ccc;
        width: 50px;
        display: flex;
        align-items: center;
        justify-content: center;
      }
      #box1 {
        background-color: #666;
        min-height: 40px;
      }
      #box2 {
        background-color: #1c87c9;
        min-height: 50px;
      }
      #box3 {
        background-color: #fff;
        min-height: 40px;
      }
      #box4 {
        background-color: #ff0000;
        min-height: 60px;
      }
      #box5 {
        background-color: #eee;
        min-height: 70px;
      }
      #box6 {
        background-color: #8ebf42;
        min-height: 50px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Place-items property example</h2>
    <div id="container" class="flex">
      <div id="box1">1</div>
      <div id="box2">2</div>
      <div id="box3">3</div>
      <div id="box4">4</div>
      <div id="box5">5</div>
      <div id="box6">6</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description
auto	If the box has no parent, or is absolutely positioned, the "auto" value represents "normal".
normal	The effect of this value depends on the layout mode: In block-level layouts "normal" value behaves like "start". In absolutely-positioned layouts, this value behaves like "start" on replaced absolutely-positioned boxes, and as stretch on all other absolutely-positioned boxes. In table cell layouts, this property is ignored. In flexbox layouts, this property is ignored. In grid layouts, this value behaves like "stretch", except for boxes with an aspect ratio or an intrinsic sizes where it behaves like "start".
start	All elements are positioned against each other on the starting (left) edge of the container.
end	All elements are positioned against each other on the ending (right) edge of the container.
flex-start	Items are placed at the beginning of the container.
flex-end	Items are placed at the end of the container.
self-start	Item is allowed to place itself on the container edge based on its own starting side.
self-end	Item is allowed to place itself on the container edge based on its own ending side.
center	Items are positioned next to each other toward the center of the container.
left	Items are placed next to each other toward the left side of the container. If the property’s axis is not parallel with the inline axis, this value behaves like "end".
right	Items are placed next to each other toward the right side of the container. If the property’s axis is not parallel with the inline axis, this value behaves like a "start".
Baseline first-baseline last-baseline	Aligns all elements within a group by matching up their alignment baselines.
stretch	Stretch the element to both edges of the container vertically and horizontally to fit the container.
initial	It makes the property use its default value.
inherit	It inherits the property from its parents element.