How can you set the height of an outer div to always be equal to a particular inner div?

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An idea is to make some of the content out of the flow using absolute position so it won’t have any impact on the height and then use flexbox for the main layout:

.container {
  display: flex;
  border: 1px solid;
  padding: 5px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.container>div {
  flex: 1;
  margin: 5px;
  border: 1px solid;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
div.inner {
  border-color:red;
}

.inner-alt {
  position: relative;
  overflow: auto;
}

.inner-alt>div {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
  left: 0;
  bottom: 0;
}
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate , eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>

Here is another trick using height:0;min-height:100%

.container {
  display: flex;
  border: 1px solid;
  padding: 5px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.container>div {
  flex: 1;
  margin: 5px;
  border: 1px solid;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
div.inner {
  border-color:red;
}

.inner-alt {
  position: relative;
  overflow:auto;
}

.inner-alt>div {
  height:0;
  min-height:100%;
}
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate , eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
</div>

The same idea as above without extra wrapper and using CSS grid:

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr 1fr;
  grid-gap:10px;
  border: 1px solid;
  padding: 10px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.container>div {
  border: 1px solid;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}
div.inner {
  border-color:red;
}

.inner-alt {
  overflow:auto;
  height:0;
  min-height:100%;
}
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
 
  <div class="inner-alt">
    eget ibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    <div>ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  </div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
  <div class="inner">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec dignissim ipsum orci, io vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate , eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    ut volutpat ligula finibus a. Maecenas ut pharetra ante. Nunc volutpat est eu odio vestibulum, eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
  <div class="inner-alt">
    eget bibendum risus commodo. Nullam tristique nibh sed iaculis vulputate. Vivamus ac tincidu</div>
</div>

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