Flexbox shrink to content size [duplicate] - html

Question

In the below example, I have a button with the following styles...
.button-flexbox-approach {
/* other button styles */
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
padding: 1.5rem 2rem;
}
http://codepen.io/3stacks/pen/JWErZJ
But it automatically scales to 100% instead of the width of the content. You can set an explicit width, but then that doesn't allow your text to wrap naturally.
How can I make a button that has the inner text centered with flexbox, but doesn't grow to fit the size of the container?
.container {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
.button {
/* Simply flexing the button makes it grow to the size of the container... How do we make it only the size of the content inside it? */
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
-webkit-appearance: none;
border-radius: 0;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 0;
cursor: pointer;
font-weight: normal;
line-height: normal;
margin: 0;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
text-decoration: none;
padding: 1rem 2rem 1.0625rem 2rem;
font-size: 1rem;
background-color: #D60C8B;
border-color: #ab0a6f;
color: #fff;
}
.one {
margin-bottom: 1rem;
}
.two {
/* You can put an explicit width on that, but then you lose the flexibility with the content inside */
width: 250px;
}
<div class="container">
<p>
Button one is flexed with no width and it grows to the size of its container
</p>
<p>
<a class="button one" href="#">Button</a>
</p>
<p>
Button two is flexed with an explicit width which makes it smaller, but we have no flexibility for changing the content
</p>
<p>
<a class="button two" href="#">Button 2</a>
</p>
</div>

Answer 1

Instead of display: flex on the container, use display: inline-flex.
This switches the container from block-level (which takes the full width of its parent) to inline-level (which takes the width of its content).
This sizing behavior is similar to display: block vs. display: inline-block.
For a related problem and solution see:
Make flex items take content width, not width of parent container

Answer 2

EDIT: Michael_B pointed out in his answer that inline-flex on the parent is the correct property for this use-case. I've updated my blog post accordingly.
It's not ideal, but if you wrap the button in a container that is inline-block, the button will scale naturally with the content, like so:
.button {
/* other button styles */
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
padding: 1.5rem 2rem;
}
<div style="display: inline-block;">
<a class="button">Button</a>
</div>
You can then set the max-width on the container and the text will wrap to multiple lines, but retain the correct vertical centering.