More detailed examples about those properties can be found on the Layout with Flexbox page.

Example

The following example shows how different properties can affect or shape a React Native layout. You can try for example to add or remove squares from the UI while changing the values of the property flexWrap.

import React, { useState } from 'react'; import { Button, ScrollView, StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native'; import Constants from 'expo-constants'; const App = () => { const flexDirections = ['row', 'row-reverse', 'column', 'column-reverse']; const justifyContents = [ 'flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'space-between', 'space-around', 'space-evenly', ]; const alignItemsArr = [ 'flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'stretch', 'baseline', ]; const wraps = ['nowrap', 'wrap', 'wrap-reverse']; const directions = ['inherit', 'ltr', 'rtl']; const [flexDirection, setFlexDirection] = useState(0); const [justifyContent, setJustifyContent] = useState(0); const [alignItems, setAlignItems] = useState(0); const [direction, setDirection] = useState(0); const [wrap, setWrap] = useState(0); const hookedStyles = { flexDirection: flexDirections[flexDirection], justifyContent: justifyContents[justifyContent], alignItems: alignItemsArr[alignItems], direction: directions[direction], flexWrap: wraps[wrap], }; const changeSetting = (value, options, setterFunction) => { if (value == options.length - 1) { setterFunction(0); return; } setterFunction(value + 1); }; const Square = () => { const sqStyle = { width: 50, height: 50, backgroundColor: randomHexColor(), }; return <View style={sqStyle} />; }; const [squares, setSquares] = useState([Square(), Square(), Square()]); return ( <> <View style={{ paddingTop: Constants.statusBarHeight }} /> <View style={[styles.container, styles.playingSpace, hookedStyles]}> {squares.map(elem => elem)} </View> <ScrollView style={[styles.container]}> <View style={[styles.controlSpace]}> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Change Flex Direction" onPress={() => changeSetting(flexDirection, flexDirections, setFlexDirection) } /> <Text style={styles.text}>{flexDirections[flexDirection]}</Text> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Change Justify Content" onPress={() => changeSetting( justifyContent, justifyContents, setJustifyContent ) } /> <Text style={styles.text}>{justifyContents[justifyContent]}</Text> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Change Align Items" onPress={() => changeSetting(alignItems, alignItemsArr, setAlignItems) } /> <Text style={styles.text}>{alignItemsArr[alignItems]}</Text> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Change Direction" onPress={() => changeSetting(direction, directions, setDirection)} /> <Text style={styles.text}>{directions[direction]}</Text> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Change Flex Wrap" onPress={() => changeSetting(wrap, wraps, setWrap)} /> <Text style={styles.text}>{wraps[wrap]}</Text> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Add Square" onPress={() => setSquares([...squares, Square()])} /> </View> <View style={styles.buttonView}> <Button title="Delete Square" onPress={() => setSquares(squares.filter((v, i) => i != squares.length - 1)) } /> </View> </View> </ScrollView> </> ); }; const styles = StyleSheet.create({ container: { height: '50%', }, playingSpace: { backgroundColor: 'white', borderColor: 'blue', borderWidth: 3, }, controlSpace: { flexDirection: 'row', flexWrap: 'wrap', backgroundColor: '#F5F5F5', }, buttonView: { width: '50%', padding: 10, }, text: { textAlign: 'center' }, }); const randomHexColor = () => { return '#000000'.replace(/0/g, () => { return (~~(Math.random() * 16)).toString(16); }); }; export default App;

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Reference

Props

alignContent

alignContent controls how rows align in the cross direction, overriding the alignContent of the parent. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-content for more details.

Type	Required
enum('flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'stretch', 'space-between', 'space-around')	No

---

alignItems

alignItems aligns children in the cross direction. For example, if children are flowing vertically, alignItems controls how they align horizontally. It works like align-items in CSS (default: stretch). See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-items for more details.

Type	Required
enum('flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'stretch', 'baseline')	No

---

alignSelf

alignSelf controls how a child aligns in the cross direction, overriding the alignItems of the parent. It works like align-self in CSS (default: auto). See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/align-self for more details.

Type	Required
enum('auto', 'flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'stretch', 'baseline')	No

---

aspectRatio

Aspect ratio controls the size of the undefined dimension of a node. Aspect ratio is a non-standard property only available in React Native and not CSS.

• On a node with a set width/height, aspect ratio controls the size of the unset dimension
• On a node with a set flex basis, aspect ratio controls the size of the node in the cross axis if unset
• On a node with a measure function, aspect ratio works as though the measure function measures the flex basis
• On a node with flex grow/shrink, aspect ratio controls the size of the node in the cross axis if unset
• Aspect ratio takes min/max dimensions into account

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderBottomWidth

borderBottomWidth works like border-bottom-width in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/border-bottom-width for more details.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderEndWidth

When direction is ltr, borderEndWidth is equivalent to borderRightWidth. When direction is rtl, borderEndWidth is equivalent to borderLeftWidth.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderLeftWidth

borderLeftWidth works like border-left-width in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/border-left-width for more details.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderRightWidth

borderRightWidth works like border-right-width in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/border-right-width for more details.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderStartWidth

When direction is ltr, borderStartWidth is equivalent to borderLeftWidth. When direction is rtl, borderStartWidth is equivalent to borderRightWidth.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderTopWidth

borderTopWidth works like border-top-width in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/border-top-width for more details.

Type	Required
number	No

---

borderWidth

borderWidth works like border-width in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/border-width for more details.

Type	Required
number	No

---

bottom

bottom is the number of logical pixels to offset the bottom edge of this component.

It works similarly to bottom in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/bottom for more details of how bottom affects layout.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

direction

direction specifies the directional flow of the user interface. The default is inherit, except for root node which will have value based on the current locale. See https://yogalayout.com/docs/layout-direction for more details.

Type	Required	Platform
enum('inherit', 'ltr', 'rtl')	No	iOS

---

display

display sets the display type of this component.

It works similarly to display in CSS but only supports 'flex' and 'none'. 'flex' is the default.

Type	Required
enum('none', 'flex')	No

---

end

When the direction is ltr, end is equivalent to right. When the direction is rtl, end is equivalent to left.

This style takes precedence over the left and right styles.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

flex

In React Native flex does not work the same way that it does in CSS. flex is a number rather than a string, and it works according to the Yoga.

When flex is a positive number, it makes the component flexible, and it will be sized proportional to its flex value. So a component with flex set to 2 will take twice the space as a component with flex set to 1. flex: <positive number> equates to flexGrow: <positive number>, flexShrink: 1, flexBasis: 0.

When flex is 0, the component is sized according to width and height, and it is inflexible.

When flex is -1, the component is normally sized according to width and height. However, if there's not enough space, the component will shrink to its minWidth and minHeight.

flexGrow, flexShrink, and flexBasis work the same as in CSS.

Type	Required
number	No

---

flexBasis

flexBasis is an axis-independent way of providing the default size of an item along the main axis. Setting the flexBasis of a child is similar to setting the width of that child if its parent is a container with flexDirection: row or setting the height of a child if its parent is a container with flexDirection: column. The flexBasis of an item is the default size of that item, the size of the item before any flexGrow and flexShrink calculations are performed.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

flexDirection

flexDirection controls which directions children of a container go. row goes left to right, column goes top to bottom, and you may be able to guess what the other two do. It works like flex-direction in CSS, except the default is column. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/flex-direction for more details.

Type	Required
enum('row', 'row-reverse', 'column', 'column-reverse')	No

---

flexGrow

flexGrow describes how any space within a container should be distributed among its children along the main axis. After laying out its children, a container will distribute any remaining space according to the flex grow values specified by its children.

flexGrow accepts any floating point value >= 0, with 0 being the default value. A container will distribute any remaining space among its children weighted by the children’s flexGrow values.

Type	Required
number	No

---

flexShrink

flexShrink describes how to shrink children along the main axis in the case in which the total size of the children overflows the size of the container on the main axis. flexShrink is very similar to flexGrow and can be thought of in the same way if any overflowing size is considered to be negative remaining space. These two properties also work well together by allowing children to grow and shrink as needed.

flexShrink accepts any floating point value >= 0, with 1 being the default value. A container will shrink its children weighted by the children’s flexShrink values.

Type	Required
number	No

---

flexWrap

flexWrap controls whether children can wrap around after they hit the end of a flex container. It works like flex-wrap in CSS (default: nowrap). See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/flex-wrap for more details. Note it does not work anymore with alignItems: stretch (the default), so you may want to use alignItems: flex-start for example (breaking change details: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases/tag/v0.28.0).

Type	Required
enum('wrap', 'nowrap', 'wrap-reverse')	No

---

height

height sets the height of this component.

It works similarly to height in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/height for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

justifyContent

justifyContent aligns children in the main direction. For example, if children are flowing vertically, justifyContent controls how they align vertically. It works like justify-content in CSS (default: flex-start). See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/justify-content for more details.

Type	Required
enum('flex-start', 'flex-end', 'center', 'space-between', 'space-around', 'space-evenly')	No

---

left

left is the number of logical pixels to offset the left edge of this component.

It works similarly to left in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/left for more details of how left affects layout.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

margin

Setting margin has the same effect as setting each of marginTop, marginLeft, marginBottom, and marginRight. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/margin for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginBottom

marginBottom works like margin-bottom in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/margin-bottom for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginEnd

When direction is ltr, marginEnd is equivalent to marginRight. When direction is rtl, marginEnd is equivalent to marginLeft.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginHorizontal

Setting marginHorizontal has the same effect as setting both marginLeft and marginRight.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginLeft

marginLeft works like margin-left in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/margin-left for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginRight

marginRight works like margin-right in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/margin-right for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginStart

When direction is ltr, marginStart is equivalent to marginLeft. When direction is rtl, marginStart is equivalent to marginRight.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginTop

marginTop works like margin-top in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/margin-top for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

marginVertical

Setting marginVertical has the same effect as setting both marginTop and marginBottom.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

maxHeight

maxHeight is the maximum height for this component, in logical pixels.

It works similarly to max-height in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/max-height for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

maxWidth

maxWidth is the maximum width for this component, in logical pixels.

It works similarly to max-width in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/max-width for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

minHeight

minHeight is the minimum height for this component, in logical pixels.

It works similarly to min-height in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/min-height for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

minWidth

minWidth is the minimum width for this component, in logical pixels.

It works similarly to min-width in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/min-width for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

overflow

overflow controls how children are measured and displayed. overflow: hidden causes views to be clipped while overflow: scroll causes views to be measured independently of their parents' main axis. It works like overflow in CSS (default: visible). See https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/CSS/overflow for more details.

Type	Required
enum('visible', 'hidden', 'scroll')	No

---

padding

Setting padding has the same effect as setting each of paddingTop, paddingBottom, paddingLeft, and paddingRight. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/padding for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingBottom

paddingBottom works like padding-bottom in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/padding-bottom for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingEnd

When direction is ltr, paddingEnd is equivalent to paddingRight. When direction is rtl, paddingEnd is equivalent to paddingLeft.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingHorizontal

Setting paddingHorizontal is like setting both of paddingLeft and paddingRight.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingLeft

paddingLeft works like padding-left in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/padding-left for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingRight

paddingRight works like padding-right in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/padding-right for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingStart

When direction is ltr, paddingStart is equivalent to paddingLeft. When direction is rtl, paddingStart is equivalent to paddingRight.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

paddingTop

paddingTop works like padding-top in CSS. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/padding-top for more details.

Type	Required
number, ,string	No

---

paddingVertical

Setting paddingVertical is like setting both of paddingTop and paddingBottom.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

position

position in React Native is similar to regular CSS, but everything is set to relative by default, so absolute positioning is always relative to the parent.

If you want to position a child using specific numbers of logical pixels relative to its parent, set the child to have absolute position.

If you want to position a child relative to something that is not its parent, don't use styles for that. Use the component tree.

See https://github.com/facebook/yoga for more details on how position differs between React Native and CSS.

Type	Required
enum('absolute', 'relative')	No

---

right

right is the number of logical pixels to offset the right edge of this component.

It works similarly to right in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/right for more details of how right affects layout.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

start

When the direction is ltr, start is equivalent to left. When the direction is rtl, start is equivalent to right.

This style takes precedence over the left, right, and end styles.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

top

top is the number of logical pixels to offset the top edge of this component.

It works similarly to top in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/top for more details of how top affects layout.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

width

width sets the width of this component.

It works similarly to width in CSS, but in React Native you must use points or percentages. Ems and other units are not supported. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/width for more details.

Type	Required
number, string	No

---

zIndex

zIndex controls which components display on top of others. Normally, you don't use zIndex. Components render according to their order in the document tree, so later components draw over earlier ones. zIndex may be useful if you have animations or custom modal interfaces where you don't want this behavior.

It works like the CSS z-index property - components with a larger zIndex will render on top. Think of the z-direction like it's pointing from the phone into your eyeball. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/z-index for more details.

On iOS, zIndex may require Views to be siblings of each other for it to work as expected.

Type	Required
number	No

---