grid-column-start Property in CSS Grid Layouts

grid-column-start specifies where the selected grid item should start (or span) along the grid container's row (inline) axis.

The grid-column-start property accepts the following values:

• auto
• <column-line-number>
• span <number-of-columns>

Example 1: How to Auto-Start the Selected Grid Item Following the Normal Column Flow

CSS

section {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
  background-color: orange;
  margin: 50px;
  min-height: 300px;
}

div {
  border: 1px solid black;
  background-color: purple;
  color: white;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 5px;
}

.grid-item1 {
  grid-column-start: auto;
}

HTML

<section>
  <div class="grid-item1">1</div>
  <div class="grid-item2">2</div>
  <div class="grid-item3">3</div>
  <div class="grid-item4">4</div>
  <div class="grid-item5">5</div>
  <div class="grid-item6">6</div>
  <div class="grid-item7">7</div>
  <div class="grid-item8">8</div>
  <div class="grid-item9">9</div>
</section>

Try Editing It

The snippet above used the auto value to auto-start grid-item1 according to the normal column layout flow.

Example 2: How to Start the Selected Grid Item at Column Line 3

CSS

section {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
  background-color: orange;
  margin: 50px;
  min-height: 300px;
}

div {
  border: 1px solid black;
  background-color: purple;
  color: white;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 5px;
}

.grid-item1 {
  grid-column-start: 3;
}

HTML

<section>
  <div class="grid-item1">1</div>
  <div class="grid-item2">2</div>
  <div class="grid-item3">3</div>
  <div class="grid-item4">4</div>
  <div class="grid-item5">5</div>
  <div class="grid-item6">6</div>
  <div class="grid-item7">7</div>
  <div class="grid-item8">8</div>
  <div class="grid-item9">9</div>
</section>

Try Editing It

The snippet above used the grid-column-start property to start grid-item1 at column line 3.

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Example 3: How to Span the Selected Grid Item across Two Columns

CSS

section {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
  background-color: orange;
  margin: 50px;
  min-height: 300px;
}

div {
  border: 1px solid black;
  background-color: purple;
  color: white;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 5px;
}

.grid-item1 {
  grid-column-start: span 2;
}

HTML

<section>
  <div class="grid-item1">1</div>
  <div class="grid-item2">2</div>
  <div class="grid-item3">3</div>
  <div class="grid-item4">4</div>
  <div class="grid-item5">5</div>
  <div class="grid-item6">6</div>
  <div class="grid-item7">7</div>
  <div class="grid-item8">8</div>
  <div class="grid-item9">9</div>
</section>

Try Editing It

The snippet above used the span 2 value to span grid-item1 across two columns.

Overview

This article discussed what a CSS grid-column-start property is. We also used examples to see how it works.

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