How to specify line breaks in a multi-line flexbox layout?

Question

Is there a way to make a line break in multiple line flexbox?

For example to break after each 3rd item in this CodePen.

Like

.item:nth-child(3n){
  /* line-break: after; */    
}

Answer 1

The simplest and most reliable solution is inserting flex items at the right places. If they are wide enough (width: 100%), they will force a line break.

.container {
  background: tomato;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: row wrap;
  align-content: space-between;
  justify-content: space-between;
}
.item {
  width: 100px;
  background: gold;
  height: 100px;
  border: 1px solid black;
  font-size: 30px;
  line-height: 100px;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 10px
}
.item:nth-child(4n - 1) {
  background: silver;
}
.line-break {
  width: 100%;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="line-break"></div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
  <div class="item">5</div>
  <div class="item">6</div>
  <div class="line-break"></div>
  <div class="item">7</div>
  <div class="item">8</div>
  <div class="item">9</div>
  <div class="line-break"></div>
  <div class="item">10</div>
</div>

But that's ugly and not semantic. Instead, we could generate pseudo-elements inside the flex container, and use order to move them to the right places.

.container {
  background: tomato;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: row wrap;
  align-content: space-between;
  justify-content: space-between;
}
.item {
  width: 100px;
  background: gold;
  height: 100px;
  border: 1px solid black;
  font-size: 30px;
  line-height: 100px;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 10px
}
.item:nth-child(3n) {
  background: silver;
}
.container::before, .container::after {
  content: '';
  width: 100%;
  order: 1;
}
.item:nth-child(n + 4) {
  order: 1;
}
.item:nth-child(n + 7) {
  order: 2;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
  <div class="item">5</div>
  <div class="item">6</div>
  <div class="item">7</div>
  <div class="item">8</div>
  <div class="item">9</div>
</div>

But there is a limitation: the flex container can only have a ::before and a ::after pseudo-element. That means you can only force 2 line breaks.

To solve that, you can generate the pseudo-elements inside the flex items instead of in the flex container. This way you won't be limited to 2. But those pseudo-elements won't be flex items, so they won't be able to force line breaks.

But luckily, CSS Display L3 has introduced display: contents (currently only supported by Firefox 37):

The element itself does not generate any boxes, but its children and pseudo-elements still generate boxes as normal. For the purposes of box generation and layout, the element must be treated as if it had been replaced with its children and pseudo-elements in the document tree.

So you can apply display: contents to the children of the flex container, and wrap the contents of each one inside an additional wrapper. Then, the flex items will be those additional wrappers and the pseudo-elements of the children.

.container {
  background: tomato;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: row wrap;
  align-content: space-between;
  justify-content: space-between;
}
.item {
  display: contents;
}
.item > div {
  width: 100px;
  background: gold;
  height: 100px;
  border: 1px solid black;
  font-size: 30px;
  line-height: 100px;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 10px;
}
.item:nth-child(3n) > div {
  background: silver;
}
.item:nth-child(3n)::after {
  content: '';
  width: 100%;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="item"><div>1</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>2</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>3</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>4</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>5</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>6</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>7</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>8</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>9</div></div>
  <div class="item"><div>10</div></div>
</div>

Alternatively, according to Fragmenting Flex Layout and CSS Fragmentation, Flexbox allows forced breaks by using break-before, break-after or their CSS 2.1 aliases:

.item:nth-child(3n) {
  page-break-after: always; /* CSS 2.1 syntax */
  break-after: always; /* New syntax */
}

.container {
  background: tomato;
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: row wrap;
  align-content: space-between;
  justify-content: space-between;
}
.item {
  width: 100px;
  background: gold;
  height: 100px;
  border: 1px solid black;
  font-size: 30px;
  line-height: 100px;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 10px
}
.item:nth-child(3n) {
  page-break-after: always;
  background: silver;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
  <div class="item">5</div>
  <div class="item">6</div>
  <div class="item">7</div>
  <div class="item">8</div>
  <div class="item">9</div>
  <div class="item">10</div>
</div>

Forced line breaks in flexbox are not widely supported yet, but it works on Firefox.