grid-auto-flow

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2020.

The grid-auto-flow CSS property controls how the auto-placement algorithm works, specifying exactly how auto-placed items get flowed into the grid.

Syntax

css

/* Keyword values */
grid-auto-flow: row;
grid-auto-flow: column;
grid-auto-flow: dense;
grid-auto-flow: row dense;
grid-auto-flow: column dense;

/* Global values */
grid-auto-flow: inherit;
grid-auto-flow: initial;
grid-auto-flow: revert;
grid-auto-flow: revert-layer;
grid-auto-flow: unset;

This property may take one of two forms:

a single keyword: one of row, column, or dense.
two keywords: row dense or column dense.

Values

row

Items are placed by filling each row in turn, adding new rows as necessary. If neither row nor column is provided, row is assumed.

column

Items are placed by filling each column in turn, adding new columns as necessary.

dense

"dense" packing algorithm attempts to fill in holes earlier in the grid, if smaller items come up later. This may cause items to appear out-of-order, when doing so would fill in holes left by larger items.

If it is omitted, a "sparse" algorithm is used, where the placement algorithm only ever moves "forward" in the grid when placing items, never backtracking to fill holes. This ensures that all of the auto-placed items appear "in order", even if this leaves holes that could have been filled by later items.

Formal definition

Initial value	`row`
Applies to	grid containers
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

grid-auto-flow = 
  [ row | column ]  ||
  dense

Examples

Setting grid auto-placement

HTML

html

<div id="grid">
  <div id="item1"></div>
  <div id="item2"></div>
  <div id="item3"></div>
  <div id="item4"></div>
  <div id="item5"></div>
</div>
<select id="direction">
  <option value="column">column</option>
  <option value="row">row</option>
</select>
<input id="dense" type="checkbox" />
<label for="dense">dense</label>

CSS

css

#grid {
  height: 200px;
  width: 200px;
  display: grid;
  gap: 10px;
  grid-template: repeat(4, 1fr) / repeat(2, 1fr);
  grid-auto-flow: column; /* or 'row', 'row dense', 'column dense' */
}

#item1 {
  background-color: lime;
  grid-row-start: 3;
}

#item2 {
  background-color: yellow;
}

#item3 {
  background-color: blue;
}

#item4 {
  grid-column-start: 2;
  background-color: red;
}

#item5 {
  background-color: aqua;
}

function changeGridAutoFlow() {
  const grid = document.getElementById("grid");
  const direction = document.getElementById("direction");
  const dense = document.getElementById("dense");
  let gridAutoFlow = direction.value === "row" ? "row" : "column";

  if (dense.checked) {
    gridAutoFlow += " dense";
  }

  grid.style.gridAutoFlow = gridAutoFlow;
}

const selectElem = document.querySelector("select");
const inputElem = document.querySelector("input");
selectElem.addEventListener("change", changeGridAutoFlow);
inputElem.addEventListener("change", changeGridAutoFlow);

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Grid Layout Module Level 2 # grid-auto-flow-property

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser