CSS Grid Layout: The Repeat Notation

Published on December 23, 2016

Repeat() is a notation that you can use with the grid-template-columns and grid-template-rows properties to make your rules more concise and easier to understand when creating a large amount of columns or rows.

For example, let’s say we have this definition for a grid container:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-gap: 10px 15px;

  grid-template-columns: 1fr 2fr 1fr 2fr 1fr 2fr;
  grid-template-rows: 100px auto 20% 100px auto 20px;
}

We can use the repeat() notation like this instead to simplify:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-gap: 10px 15px;

  grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr 2fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(2, 100px auto 20%);
}

The first value passed to repeat() is the number of repetitions and the second value is the grid tracks to repeat.

Repeat() with named lines

You can also use repeat with named lines:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-auto-flow: column dense;

  grid-template-columns: repeat(4, [col] 1fr);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(5, [row] 150px);
}

Which is equivalent to the following long-form definition:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-auto-flow: column dense;

  grid-template-columns:
    [col] 1fr
    [col] 1fr
    [col] 1fr
    [col] 1fr;
  grid-template-rows:
    [row] 150px
    [row] 150px
    [row] 150px
    [row] 150px
    [row] 150px;
}

Named grid lines at the end of repeat notations end up sharing the same line as the next starting name line. For examples, with this:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-auto-flow: column dense;

  grid-template-columns: repeat(4, [col-start] 1fr [col-end]);
  grid-template-rows: repeat(5, [row-start] 150px [row-end]);
}

We get this equivalent long-form definition:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-auto-flow: column dense;

  grid-template-columns:
    [col-start] 1fr
    [col-end col-start] 1fr
    [col-end col-start] 1fr
    [col-end col-start] 1fr [col-end];

  grid-template-rows:
    [row-start] 150px
    [row-end row-start] 150px
    [row-end row-start] 150px
    [row-end row-start] 150px
    [row-end row-start] 150px [row-end];
}