CSS: Center block, but align contents to the left

I want a whole block to be centered in its parent, but I want the contents of the block to be left aligned.

Examples serve best

On this page :

http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/?yaml=%23+ASCII+Art%0d%0a---+%7c%0d%0a++%5c%2f%2f%7c%7c%5c%2f%7c%7c%0d%0a++%2f%2f+%7c%7c++%7c%7c__%0d%0a&type=python

the ascii art should be centered (as it appears) but it should line up and look like "YAML".

Or this :

http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/?yaml=%3f+-+Detroit+Tigers%0d%0a++-+Chicago+cubs%0d%0a%3a%0d%0a++-+2001-07-23%0d%0a%0d%0a%3f+%5b+New+York+Yankees%2c%0d%0a++++Atlanta+Braves+%5d%0d%0a%3a+%5b+2001-07-02%2c+2001-08-12%2c%0d%0a++++2001-08-14+%5d%0d%0a

the error message should all line up as it does in a console.

First, create a parent div that centers its child content with text-align: center. Next, create a child div that uses display: inline-block to adapt to the width of its children and text-align: left to make the content it holds align to the left as desired.

<div style="text-align: center;">
    <div style="display: inline-block; text-align: left;">
        Centered<br />
        Content<br />
        That<br />
        Is<br />
        Left<br />
        Aligned
    </div>
</div>

Reposting the working answer from the other question: How to horizontally center a floating element of a variable width?

Assuming the element which is floated and will be centered is a div with an id="content" ...

<body>
<div id="wrap">
   <div id="content">
   This will be centered
   </div>
</div>
</body>

And apply the following CSS

#wrap {
    float: left;
    position: relative;
    left: 50%;
}

#content {
    float: left;
    position: relative;
    left: -50%;
}

Here is a good reference regarding that http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/35-floats-and-clearing/#centeringfloats

If I understand you well, you need to use to center a container (or block)

margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;

and to left align it's contents:

text-align: left;

I've found the easiest way to centre and left-align text inside a container is the following:

HTML:

<div>
  <p>Some interesting text.</p>
</div>

CSS:

P {
  width: 50%; //or whatever looks best
  margin: auto; //top and bottom margin can be added for aesthetic effect
}

Hope this is what you were looking for as it took me quite a bit of searching just to figure out this pretty basic solution.

CSS: Center block, but align contents to the left

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