Question

Utilities for controlling the number of columns within an element.

Quick reference

Class	Properties
columns-1	columns: 1;
columns-2	columns: 2;
columns-3	columns: 3;
columns-4	columns: 4;
columns-5	columns: 5;
columns-6	columns: 6;
columns-7	columns: 7;
columns-8	columns: 8;
columns-9	columns: 9;
columns-10	columns: 10;
columns-11	columns: 11;
columns-12	columns: 12;
columns-auto	columns: auto;
columns-3xs	columns: 16rem; /* 256px */
columns-2xs	columns: 18rem; /* 288px */
columns-xs	columns: 20rem; /* 320px */
columns-sm	columns: 24rem; /* 384px */
columns-md	columns: 28rem; /* 448px */
columns-lg	columns: 32rem; /* 512px */
columns-xl	columns: 36rem; /* 576px */
columns-2xl	columns: 42rem; /* 672px */
columns-3xl	columns: 48rem; /* 768px */
columns-4xl	columns: 56rem; /* 896px */
columns-5xl	columns: 64rem; /* 1024px */
columns-6xl	columns: 72rem; /* 1152px */
columns-7xl	columns: 80rem; /* 1280px */

Basic usage

Adding based on column count

Use utilities like columns-2 and columns-3 to set the number of columns that should be created for the content within an element. The column width will be automatically adjusted to accommodate that number.

<div class="columns-3 ...">
  <img class="w-full aspect-video ..." src="..." />
  <img class="w-full aspect-square ..." src="..." />
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

Adding based on column width

Use utilities like columns-xs and columns-sm to set the ideal column width for the content within an element, with the number of columns (the count) automatically adjusting to accommodate that value.

This “t-shirt” scale is the same as the max-width scale, with the addition of 2xs and 3xs, since smaller columns may be desirable.

Resize the example to see the expected behaviour

<div class="columns-3xs ...">
  <img class="w-full aspect-video ..." src="..." />
  <img class="w-full aspect-square ..." src="..." />
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

Setting the column gap

To specify the width between columns, you can use the gap-x utilities:

<div class="gap-8 columns-3 ...">
  <img class="w-full aspect-video ..." src="..." />
  <img class="w-full aspect-square ..." src="..." />
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

---

Applying conditionally

Hover, focus, and other states

Tailwind lets you conditionally apply utility classes in different states using variant modifiers. For example, use hover:columns-3 to only apply the columns-3 utility on hover.

<div class="columns-2 hover:columns-3">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

For a complete list of all available state modifiers, check out the Hover, Focus, & Other States documentation.

Breakpoints and media queries

You can also use variant modifiers to target media queries like responsive breakpoints, dark mode, prefers-reduced-motion, and more. For example, use md:columns-3 to apply the columns-3 utility at only medium screen sizes and above.

<div class="columns-2 md:columns-3">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

To learn more, check out the documentation on Responsive Design, Dark Mode and other media query modifiers.

---

Using custom values

Customizing your theme

By default, Tailwind provides a column count scale from 1-12 as well as a column t-shirt scale from 3xs-7xl. You can customize these values by editing theme.columns or theme.extend.columns in your tailwind.config.js file.

tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      columns: {
        '4xs': '14rem',
      }
    },
  }
}

Learn more about customizing the default theme in the theme customization documentation.

Arbitrary values

If you need to use a one-off columns value that doesn’t make sense to include in your theme, use square brackets to generate a property on the fly using any arbitrary value.

<div class="columns-[10rem]">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

Learn more about arbitrary value support in the arbitrary values documentation.