A strut is an invisible component of a fixed width or a fixed height.
import javax.swing.Box; import javax.swing.JButton; import javax.swing.JFrame; public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { JFrame frame = new JFrame("FlowLayout Nesting"); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); Box hBox = Box.createHorizontalBox(); hBox.add(new JButton("First")); // Add a 100px strut to a horizontal box hBox.add(Box.createHorizontalStrut(100)); hBox.add(new JButton("Last")); // Add JPanel to the content pane frame.getContentPane().add(hBox);//from w ww . j ava 2 s .c om frame.pack(); frame.setVisible(true); } }