Make Bootstrap 4 navbar button always visible & right aligned on any screen size

Question

I'm using the latest Bootstrap 4 and MDB for a navbar.

How can I make this button visible on the right side near hamburger icon also? I can't find a correct solution using only m*-auto. If I make it right on mobile screens, then it does not show right on the desktop and the other way round.

I don't want to put two buttons inside.

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-dark primary-color">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown"
    aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
    <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
</button>
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
    <ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto">
        <li class="nav-item active">
            <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
            <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
            <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item dropdown">
            <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true"
                aria-expanded="false">
            Dropdown link
            </a>
            <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdownMenuLink">
                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
                <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
            </div>
        </li>
    </ul>
    <button class="btn btn-sm align-middle btn-primary" type="button">Always visible here!</button>
</div>

Answer 1

Put your button as the second item in the HTML (within the navbar) and then add the classes ml-auto mr-3 order-lg-last to it and also remove the ml-auto class from the ul element like shown in the code snippet below.

Positioning the button as the second item in the HTML will have it in front of the toggler i.e. it will appear on the left side of the toggler on small screens.

The ml-auto class (margin-left:auto) will push the button to the right and mr-3 give it 3 units of right margin while order-lg-last will re-order it as the last item on screens that are large (lg) or larger.

Here's the code snippet (click "run code snippet" and expand to full page for testing):

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-Gn5384xqQ1aoWXA+058RXPxPg6fy4IWvTNh0E263XmFcJlSAwiGgFAW/dAiS6JXm" crossorigin="anonymous">

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.slim.min.js" integrity="sha384-KJ3o2DKtIkvYIK3UENzmM7KCkRr/rE9/Qpg6aAZGJwFDMVNA/GpGFF93hXpG5KkN" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha384-ApNbgh9B+Y1QKtv3Rn7W3mgPxhU9K/ScQsAP7hUibX39j7fakFPskvXusvfa0b4Q" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-JZR6Spejh4U02d8jOt6vLEHfe/JQGiRRSQQxSfFWpi1MquVdAyjUar5+76PVCmYl" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-dark bg-dark primary-color">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
    <button class="btn btn-sm align-middle btn-primary ml-auto mr-3 order-lg-last" type="button">Always visible here!</button>
    <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown"
            aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
        <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>

    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
        <ul class="navbar-nav">
            <li class="nav-item active">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item dropdown">
                <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true"
                   aria-expanded="false">
                    Dropdown link
                </a>
                <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdownMenuLink">
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
                </div>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</nav>

To control the right margin of the button on lg screens and up, you could add the mr-lg-0 class to the button. 0 means no margin i.e. the same right margin as the toggler normally has.

And if you want the button to be on the right side of the toggler, you'd use the following code (using the same basic logic as described above):

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-Gn5384xqQ1aoWXA+058RXPxPg6fy4IWvTNh0E263XmFcJlSAwiGgFAW/dAiS6JXm" crossorigin="anonymous">

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.slim.min.js" integrity="sha384-KJ3o2DKtIkvYIK3UENzmM7KCkRr/rE9/Qpg6aAZGJwFDMVNA/GpGFF93hXpG5KkN" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha384-ApNbgh9B+Y1QKtv3Rn7W3mgPxhU9K/ScQsAP7hUibX39j7fakFPskvXusvfa0b4Q" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-JZR6Spejh4U02d8jOt6vLEHfe/JQGiRRSQQxSfFWpi1MquVdAyjUar5+76PVCmYl" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-dark bg-dark primary-color">
    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
    <button class="navbar-toggler ml-auto" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNavDropdown" aria-controls="navbarNavDropdown"
            aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
        <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
    </button>
    <button class="btn btn-sm align-middle btn-primary ml-3 order-lg-last" type="button">Always visible here!</button>

    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNavDropdown">
        <ul class="navbar-nav">
            <li class="nav-item active">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Home <span class="sr-only">(current)</span></a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Features</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" href="#">Pricing</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item dropdown">
                <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="http://example.com" id="navbarDropdownMenuLink" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true"
                   aria-expanded="false">
                    Dropdown link
                </a>
                <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdownMenuLink">
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a>
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a>
                    <a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a>
                </div>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</nav>