How to make a div's width stretch between two divs

Question

My current problem is that I have three div elements; one floated left, one floated right, and one between those two. I want the center div to automatically stretch to the max width of the width available between the two divs.

HTML

<div id="contain">
    <div id="left">1</div>
    <div id="filler"></div>
    <div id="right">2</div>
</div>

CSS

#left {
    text-decoration: none;
    display: inline-block;
    float: left;
    width: auto;
    padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
    height: 45px;
    text-align: center;
    line-height: 300%;
    background: #FF9000;
    color: #FFFFFF;
}
#navFiller {
    display: inline-block;
    position: fixed;
    float: left;
    width: auto;
    height: 45px;
    background: #FF9000;
}
#right {
    text-decoration: none;
    display: inline-block;
    float: right;
    width: auto;
    padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
    height: 45px;
    text-align: center;
    line-height: 300%;
    background: #FF9000;
    color: #FFFFFF;
}
#contain {
    width: 100%;
    height: 45px;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
    display: inline;
}

Jsfiddle of project:

http://jsfiddle.net/msEBU/

This is similar to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1032914/how-to-make-a-div-fill-a-remaining-horizontal-space. — Matt Bussing, Jul 25 '19 at 23:44

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 24 '15 at 07:10

If you add your filler element after the floated elements, and then change up its styles a little bit (including giving the style-block the correct id), you can get what you're going for:

#left {
  display: inline-block;
  float: left;
  padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
  height: 45px;
  text-align: center;
  line-height: 300%;
  background: #FF9000;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}
#filler {
  display: block;
  float: none;
  height: 45px;
  background: #F00;
}
#right {
  display: inline-block;
  float: right;
  padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
  height: 45px;
  text-align: center;
  line-height: 300%;
  background: #FF9000;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}
#contain {
  width: 100%;
  height: 45px;
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
  display: inline;
}

<div id="contain">
  <div id="left">1</div>
  <div id="right">2</div>
  <div id="filler">m</div>
</div>

OR, simulate a table:

 #contain {
   width: 100%;
   padding: 0;
   margin: 0;
   display: table;
 }
 #left,
 #right {
   text-decoration: none;
   display: table-cell;
   width: 5%;
   text-align: center;
   background: #FF9000;
   color: #FFFFFF;
   padding: 2% 0;
 }
 #filler {
   display: table-cell;
   width: auto;
   background: #F00;
 }

<div id="contain">
  <div id="left">1</div>
  <div id="filler">m</div>
  <div id="right">2</div>
</div>

Both methods have their benefits. It's up to you which is right for you.

Thanks! I just added that into my project and it worked perfectly! — Burn_E99, Feb 14 '14 at 15:05
You don't actually need the table-row element: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16120957/can-i-use-table-cell-as-a-stand-alone-style — cimmanon, Feb 14 '14 at 15:19
I was going to accept it, but SO wouldn't let me for 3 minutes, so I kind of got distracted. — Burn_E99, Feb 14 '14 at 15:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 14 '14 at 15:26

Many implementations of CSS do not support automatic sizing relationships between different float layers. There are many solutions though. My recommendation is to use a small bit of javascript. I've used the following line of Jquery with some minor css tweaks:

$('#filler').outerWidth($('#contain').width()-$('#right').outerWidth()-$('#left').outerWidth());

Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/K9C4u/2/

Also note that I moved the divs onto the same line because it makes a text node with a space for each of the return+tabs.

How to make a div's width stretch between two divs

2 Answers2

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