Align 3 unequal blocks left, center and right

Question

I\'m trying to align a top menu which consists of 3 blocks of content.

What I\'m trying to achieve is this:

• block 1: left aligned
• block 2: cen

Answer 1

You can consider flex-grow:1;flex-basis:0% for the left and right elements then use text-align to align content inside. I have added an extra wrapper to keep the background only around the text.

The trick is to calculate the free space by removing only the middle content and split it equally to the left and right element.

.container {
  margin: 20px 0;
  padding-top:10px;
  background:linear-gradient(#000,#000) center/5px 100% no-repeat; /*the center*/
}

.row {
  background-color: lime;
  display: flex;
  color: #fff;
}

.item:not(:nth-child(2)) {
  flex-basis: 0%;
  flex-grow: 1;
}

.item:last-child {
  text-align: right;
}

.item span{
  background-color: blue;
  display:inline-block;
  padding: 16px;
  height:100%;
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

  

    
left, slightly longer
    
center, this item is much longer
    
right
  

You can also do the same by keeping the element close. Simply adjust text-align:

.container {
  margin: 20px 0;
  padding-top:10px;
  background:linear-gradient(#000,#000) center/5px 100% no-repeat; /*the center*/
}

.row {
  background-color: lime;
  display: flex;
  color: #fff;
}

.item:not(:nth-child(2)) {
  flex-basis: 0%;
  flex-grow: 1;
}

.item:first-child {
  text-align: right;
}

.item span{
  background-color: blue;
  display:inline-block;
  padding: 16px;
  height:100%;
  box-sizing:border-box;
}

  

    
left, slightly longer
    
center, this item is much longer
    
right