How to Center-Align One Flex Item and Right-Align Another Using Flexbox

Center one and right/left align other flexbox element

Below are five options for achieving this layout:

CSS Positioning
Flexbox with Invisible DOM Element
Flexbox with Invisible Pseudo-Element
Flexbox with flex: 1
CSS Grid Layout

Method #1: CSS Positioning Properties

Apply position: relative to the flex container.

Apply position: absolute to item D.

Now this item is absolutely positioned within the flex container.

More specifically, item D is removed from the document flow but stays within the bounds of the nearest positioned ancestor.

Use the CSS offset properties top and right to move this element into position.

li:last-child {

  position: absolute;

  top: 0;

  right: 0;

  background: #ddd;

}

ul {

  position: relative;

  padding: 0;

  margin: 0;

  display: flex;

  flex-direction: row;

  justify-content: center;

  align-items: center;

}

li {

  display: flex;

  margin: 1px;

  padding: 5px;

  background: #aaa;

}

p {

  text-align: center;

  margin-top: 0;

}

span {

  background-color: aqua;

}

<ul>

  <li>A</li>

  <li>B</li>

  <li>C</li>

  <li>D</li>

</ul>

<p><span>true center</span></p>

How can I align one item right with flexbox?

To align one flex child to the right set it withmargin-left: auto;

From the flex spec:

One use of auto margins in the main axis is to separate flex items
into distinct "groups". The following example shows how to use this to
reproduce a common UI pattern - a single bar of actions with some
aligned on the left and others aligned on the right.

.wrap div:last-child {
  margin-left: auto;
}

Updated fiddle

.wrap {

  display: flex;

  background: #ccc;

  width: 100%;

  justify-content: space-between;

}

.wrap div:last-child {

  margin-left: auto;

}

.result {

  background: #ccc;

  margin-top: 20px;

}

.result:after {

  content: '';

  display: table;

  clear: both;

}

.result div {

  float: left;

}

.result div:last-child {

  float: right;

}

<div class="wrap">

  <div>One</div>

  <div>Two</div>

  <div>Three</div>

</div>

<!-- DESIRED RESULT -->

<div class="result">

  <div>One</div>

  <div>Two</div>

  <div>Three</div>

</div>

Using flex, one element centrally aligned and others spaced between the centre and right

Here's a clean and simple process to get you to your layout:

First, note that CSS pseudo-elements (i.e., ::before and ::after), when applied to flex containers, are treated as flex items.

Create a pseudo-element to serve as the first flex item in the container.
Make the pseudo consume all available space (i.e., set it to flex: 1)
Do the same with your button group (.btn-group) on the opposite end (i.e., set it to flex: 1)

Now, with the outer items pressuring from both sides, the title is pinned to the middle of the container.

Make the button group container a flex container.
Set that container to justify-content: center.

Now, the individual buttons are horizontally centered on the right side of the already centered title.

.header {

  display: flex;

  height: 50px;

  align-items: center;

}

.header::before {

  content: "";

  flex: 1;

}

.btn-group {

  flex: 1;

  display: flex;

  justify-content: center;

}

<div class="header">

  <h1 class="title">1</h1>

  <div class="btn-group">

    <button id="btn_1" class="selected">2</button>

    <button id="btn_2">3</button>

    <button id="btn_3">4</button>

  </div>

</div>

How to Right-align flex item?

A more flex approach would be to use an auto left margin (flex items treat auto margins a bit differently than when used in a block formatting context).

.c {
    margin-left: auto;
}

Updated fiddle:

.main { display: flex; }

.a, .b, .c { background: #efefef; border: 1px solid #999; }

.b { flex: 1; text-align: center; }

.c {margin-left: auto;}

<h2>With title</h2>

<div class="main">

    <div class="a"><a href="#">Home</a></div>

    <div class="b"><a href="#">Some title centered</a></div>

    <div class="c"><a href="#">Contact</a></div>

</div>

<h2>Without title</h2>

<div class="main">

    <div class="a"><a href="#">Home</a></div>

    <!--<div class="b"><a href="#">Some title centered</a></div>-->

    <div class="c"><a href="#">Contact</a></div>

</div>

<h1>Problem</h1>

<p>Is there a more flexbox-ish way to right align "Contact" than to use position absolute?</p>

How to align button right in a flex container?

Floats do not work in a flex container

Use align-self:flex-end instead

.faq {
  padding: 12px 20px;
  display: block;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  width: 50%;
  margin: auto;
  margin-top: 30px;
}

.outerDiv {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  text-align: center;
  margin-top: 20px;

  background-color: yellow;
}

.save {
   align-self:flex-end;
  background-color: red;
}

<div class="outerDiv">
    <h2>New FAQ</h2>
    <input type="text" class="faq">
    <br>
    <button class="save" mat-raised-button color="primary">Primary</button>
</div>

Centering one flex item and and aligning second item to right by any amount of px

You can use width: 0; white-space: nowrap; trick.

.flex {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
}

.icon {
  width: 0;
  white-space: nowrap;
  margin-left: 20px;
}

<div class="flex">
  <div class="text">Tacos</div>
  <div class="icon">lt;/div>
</div>

Aligning elements left, center and right in flexbox

Use nested flex containers and flex-grow: 1.

This allows you to create three equal-width sections on the nav bar.

Then each section becomes a (nested) flex container which allows you to vertically and horizontally align the links using flex properties.

Now the left and right items are pinned to the edges of the container and the middle item is perfectly centered (even though the left and right items are different widths).

.nav {

  display: flex;

  height: 50px;      /* optional; just for demo */

  background: white;

}

.links {

  flex: 1;          /* shorthand for: flex-grow: 1, flex-shrink: 1, flex-basis: 0 */

  display: flex;

  justify-content: flex-start;

  align-items: center;

  border: 1px dashed red;

}

.header-title {

  flex: 1;

  display: flex;

  justify-content: center;

  align-items: center;

  border: 1px dashed red;

}

.logout {

  flex: 1;

  display: flex;

  justify-content: flex-end;

  align-items: center;

  border: 1px dashed red;

}

.links a {

  margin: 0 5px;

  text-decoration: none;

}

<div class="nav mobilenav">

  <div class="links">

    <a href="/institutions/">Institutioner</a>

    <a href="/leaders/">Ledere</a>

  </div>

  <div class="header-title">Institution institution 1</div>

  <div class="logout"><a class="button-dark" href="/user/logout">Log ud</a></div>

</div>