grid-column-start

The grid-column-start CSS property specifies a grid item’s start position within the grid column by contributing a line, a span, or nothing (automatic) to its grid placement, thereby specifying the block-start edge of its grid area.

Initial value	auto
Applies to	grid items and absolutely-positioned boxes whose containing block is a grid container
Inherited	no
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* Keyword value */
grid-column-start: auto;

/* <custom-ident> value */
grid-column-start: somegridarea;

/* <integer> + <custom-ident> values */
grid-column-start: 2;
grid-column-start: somegridarea 4;

/* span + <integer> + <custom-ident> values */
grid-column-start: span 3;
grid-column-start: span somegridarea;
grid-column-start: 5 somegridarea span;

/* Global values */
grid-column-start: inherit;
grid-column-start: initial;
grid-column-start: unset;

Values

auto

Is a keyword indicating that the property contributes nothing to the grid item’s placement, indicating auto-placement, an automatic span, or a default span of 1.

<custom-ident>

If there is a named line with the name '<custom-ident>-start', it contributes the first such line to the grid item’s placement.

Note: Named grid areas automatically generate implicit named lines of this form, so specifying grid-column-start: foo; will choose the start edge of that named grid area (unless another line named foo-start was explicitly specified before it).

Otherwise, this is treated as if the integer 1 had been specified along with the <custom-ident>.

<integer> && <custom-ident>?

Contributes the nth grid line to the grid item’s placement. If a negative integer is given, it instead counts in reverse, starting from the end edge of the explicit grid.

If a name is given as a <custom-ident>, only lines with that name are counted. If not enough lines with that name exist, all implicit grid lines are assumed to have that name for the purpose of finding this position.

An <integer> value of 0 is invalid.

span && [ <integer> || <custom-ident> ]

Contributes a grid span to the grid item’s placement, such that the column start edge of the grid item’s grid area is n lines from the end edge.

If a name is given as a <custom-ident>, only lines with that name are counted. If not enough lines with that name exist, all implicit grid lines on the side of the explicit grid corresponding to the search direction are assumed to have that name for the purpose of counting this span.

If the <integer> is omitted, it defaults to 1. Negative integers or 0 are invalid.

The <custom-ident> cannot take the span value.

Formal syntax

<grid-line>
where 
<grid-line> = auto | <custom-ident> | [ <integer> && <custom-ident>? ] | [ span && [ <integer> || <custom-ident> ] ]

Example

HTML Content

<div id="grid">
  <div id="item1"></div>
  <div id="item2"></div>
  <div id="item3"></div>
</div>

CSS Content

#grid {
  display: grid;
  height: 100px;
  grid-template: repeat(4, 1fr) / 100px;
}

#item1 {
  background-color: lime;
  grid-column-start: span 2;
}

#item2 {
  background-color: yellow;
}

#item3 {
  background-color: blue;
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Grid Layout The definition of 'grid-column-start' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

[1] Implemented behind the experimental Web Platform features flag in chrome://flags since Chrome 29.0.

[2] Implemented behind the preference layout.css.grid.enabled since Gecko 40.0 (Firefox 40.0 / Thunderbird 40.0 / SeaMonkey 2.37), defaulting to false. Since Gecko 52.0 (Firefox 52.0 / Thunderbird 52.0 / SeaMonkey 2.49) it is enabled by default.

[3] Internet Explorer implements an older version of the specification, which only defines a grid-cell and a grid-column-span property and is using the -ms prefix. Therefore part of the property is implemented there as -ms-grid-cell and -ms-grid-column-span, respectively.

[4] Implemented behind the Enable experimental Web Platform features flag in chrome://flags since Opera 28.0.

See also

• Related CSS properties: grid-column-end, grid-column, grid-row-start, grid-row-end, grid-row