HTML <input> Tag

The HTML <input> tag represents a form input control in an HTML document. A form input control is a control that allows the user to input data and interact with a website or application.

Syntax

The <input> tag is written as <input> (no end tag). An <input> tag is typically given a type attribute to specify the type of control, and a name attribute so that the form processor can make a reference to it. Often a value attribute is used to specify the default value of the form control.

There are a lot of other attributes that can be used with the <input> tag. These are listed below under "Template".

Here's a basic example of the syntax for the <input> tag with some attributes:

Here's an example that contains three <input> elements within a typical form:

Examples

Basic Form

Here's a form that is used to collect the user's name details. Three <input> tags are used: two for the name details, one for the submit button.

<form action="/html/tags/html_form_tag_action.cfm" target="_blank" method="get">
<p><label>First name: <input type="text" name="first_name" maxlength="100" style="width:120px;"></label></p>
<p><label>Last name: <input type="text" name="last_name" maxlength="100" style="width:120px;"></label></p>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

The `form` Attribute

It is possible to associate the <input> element with a form by using the <input> element's form attribute.

If using the <input> element's form attribute, you must specify the id of the form you wish to associate the element with.

In the following example, I've placed all the form-associated elements outside of the <input> element. But I've purposely associated only two elements with the form (to demonstrate the effect of the form attribute). The first name has been associated with a form but the last name has not. Therefore, the last name is not submitted with the form and the action page doesn't acknowledge the users' last name.

<form action="/html/tags/html_form_tag_action.cfm" target="_blank" method="get" id="customer_name"></form>
<p><label>First name: <input form="customer_name" type="text" name="first_name" maxlength="100" style="width:120px;"></label></p>
<p><label>Last name: <input type="text" name="last_name" maxlength="100" style="width:120px;"></label></p>
<input form="customer_name" type="submit" value="Submit">

Radio Buttons

In this example, we create radio buttons. We do this by giving the type attribute a value of radio. Each radio button in a group must have the same name value - that's how they are associated. The value is what distinguishes the different options.

<p>Which prize do you prefer?</p>
<form>
<label><input type="radio" name="prize" value="house">House</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="prize" value="money">$1 million</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="prize" value="none">No prize thanks, I'm already happy :)</label>
</form>

Form-Associated Elements

The <input> tag is referred to as a form associated element. This is because it can have a form-owner.

Here are the form-associated elements in HTML.

Attributes

Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The <input> element accepts the following attributes.

Element-Specific Attributes

This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <input> tag/element.

Attribute Description

Specifies a comma-separated list of content types that the server accepts.

Possible values:

audio/*
video/*
image/*
[A valid MIME type, with no parameters]
[A string whose first character is a "." (U+002E) character] (for specifying a file extension)

You can specify both any MIME types and any corresponding extensions. For example, <input type="file" accept=".doc,.docx,.xml,application/msword,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document">

alt Alternate text. This specifies text to be used in case the browser/user agent can't render the input control.

autocomplete

Prevents the browser from using "autocomplete" with this control. Can be useful for sensitive data, such as banking details etc.

Possible values:

on (default value)
off

autofocus

Automatically gives focus to this control when the page loads. This allows the user to start using the control without having to select it first. There must not be more than one element in the document with the autofocus attribute specified.

This is a boolean attribute. If the attribute is present, its value must either be the empty string or a value that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the attribute's canonical name, with no leading or trailing whitespace (i.e. either autofocus or autofocus="autofocus").

Possible values:

[Empty string]
autofocus

checked The input control will already be selected when the page loads. Used with type="radio" or type="checkbox".

disabled

Disables the input control. The control won't accept changes from the user. It also cannot receive focus and will be skipped when tabbing.

Possible values:

[Empty string]
disabled

dirname

Determines the direction of the text as submitted in the input field. The value of this attribute can be a string of text such as a name for the field. For example, if you specify the attribute as dirname="text_dir", once the form has been submitted, the data might look like this: text_dir=ltr.

form

Specifies the ID of a form to which this control belongs.

Possible values:

[The ID of a form element in the element's owner Document]

formaction Specifies the URL of the file that will process the control when submitted.

formenctype

Specifies the content type used to encode the form data set when it's submitted to the server.

Possible values:

application/x-www-form-urlencoded (default)
multipart/form-data (use this when uploading files)
text/plain (use this when uploading files)

formmethod

Specifies the HTTP method to use when the control is submitted.

Possible values:

get (the form data is appended to the URL when submitted)
post (the form data is not appended to the URL)
dialog (Closes the dialog box in which the form finds itself, if any, and otherwise does not submit.)

formnovalidate

Specifies that the form is not to be validated during submission.

Possible values:

[Empty string]
novalidate

formtarget

Specifies the browsing context to load the destination indicated in the action attribute.

Possible values:

_blank
_self
_top
_parent

height Specifies the height of the control.

list Specifies a datalist element to use for a list of predefined options for the user. The value must be the ID of a datalist element in the same document.

max Specifies the maximum value for the control.

maxlength Specifies the maximum number of characters that the user is allowed to enter into the text field.

min Specifies the minimum value for the control.

minlength Specifies a lower bound on the number of characters a user can input.

multiple

Specifies whether the user is allowed to enter more than one value.

Possible values:

[Empty string]
multiple

name Assigns a name to the input control.

pattern Specifies a regular expression against which the control's value is to be checked. Value must match the Pattern production of ECMA 262's grammar.

placeholder

Specifies a short hint (a word or short phrase) intended to aid the user with data entry. A hint could be a sample value or a brief description of the expected format.

Note: For a longer hint or other advisory text, the title global attribute is more appropriate.

Also note that the placeholder attribute should not be used as an alternative to the <label> element.

readonly

Sets the input control to read-only - it won't allow the user to change the value. The control however, can receive focus and are included when tabbing through the form controls.

Possible values:

[Empty string]
readonly

required

Specifies that the input field is a required field (the user must complete this field).

Possible values:

[Empty string]
required

size Specifies the width of the control, in characters. Value that is a valid non-negative integer greater than zero.

src If type="image", this attribute specifies the location of the image.

step Specifies the granularity that is expected (and required) of the value, by limiting the allowed values.

type

Specifies the type of control.

Possible values:

Value	Data Type	Control Type
hidden	An arbitrary string	N/A
text	Text with no line breaks	Text field
search	Text with no line breaks	Text field
tel	Text with no line breaks	Text field
url	An absolute URL	Text field
email	An email address or list of email addresses	Text field
password	Text with no line breaks (sensitive information)	Text field that obscures data entry (eg, hides the password by using asterisks (******) or similar)
datetime	A date and time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, fraction of a second) with the time zone set to UTC	Date and time control
date	A date (year, month, day) with no time zone	Date control
month	A date consisting of a year and a month with no time zone	A month control
week	A date consisting of a week-year number and a week number with no time zone	A week control
time	A time (hour, minute, seconds, fractional seconds) with no time zone	A time control
datetime-local	A date and time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, fraction of a second) with no time zone	Date and time control
number	A numerical value	Text field or spinner control
range	A numerical value, with the extra semantic that the exact value is not important	Slider control or similar
color	An sRGB color with 8-bit red, green, and blue components	A color well. Enables the user to select a color.
checkbox	A set of zero or more values from a predefined list	Checkbox
radio	An enumerated value	Radio button
file	Zero or more files each with a MIME type and optionally a file name	A label and a button
submit	An enumerated value, with the extra semantic that it must be the last value selected and initiates form submission	Button
image	A coordinate, relative to a particular image's size, with the extra semantic that it must be the last value selected and initiates form submission	Either a clickable image, or a button
reset	N/A	Button
button	N/A	Button

value Specifies a default value for the control. Note: If type="checkbox" or type="radio" this attribute is required.

width Specifies the width of the control.

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <input> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.

accesskey
class
contenteditable
contextmenu
dir
draggable
dropzone
hidden
id
inert
itemid
itemprop
itemref
itemscope
itemtype
lang
spellcheck
style
tabindex
title
translate

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.

Again, you can use any of these with the <input> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.

onabort
oncancel
onblur
oncanplay
oncanplaythrough
onchange
onclick
oncontextmenu
ondblclick
ondrag
ondragend
ondragenter
ondragexit
ondragleave
ondragover
ondragstart
ondrop
ondurationchange
onemptied
onended
onerror
onfocus
onformchange
onforminput
oninput
oninvalid
onkeydown
onkeypress
onkeyup
onload
onloadeddata
onloadedmetadata
onloadstart
onmousedown
onmousemove
onmouseout
onmouseover
onmouseup
onmousewheel
onpause
onplay
onplaying
onprogress
onratechange
onreadystatechange
onscroll
onseeked
onseeking
onselect
onshow
onstalled
onsubmit
onsuspend
ontimeupdate
onvolumechange
onwaiting

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

The <input> element has a number of differences between HTML 4 and HTML5.

In HTML5, the usemap, ismap, and align attributes are obsolete (they were supported in HTML 4).

HTML5 introduced the following attributes:

form
autocomplete
autofocus
list
pattern
required
placeholder
dirname
formaction
formenctype
formmethod
formnovalidate
formtarget
height
max
min
minlength
multiple
step
width

Also, in HTML5 the global title attribute has special meaning on the <input> element.

HTML 5.1 and the WHATWG HTML Living Standard introduced the following attribute:

inputmode

But the attribute was later dropped from both specs.

To see more detail on the two versions see HTML5 <input> Tag and HTML4 <input> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.

Template

Here's a template for the <input> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.

For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <input> Tag and HTML4 <input> Tag.

Tag Details

For more details about the <input> tag, see HTML5 <input> Tag and HTML4 <input> Tag.

Specifications

Here are the official specifications for the <input> element.

HTML5 Specification (W3C)
HTML Living Standard (WHATWG)
Current W3C Draft (the next version that is currently being worked on)
HTML 4 (W3C)

What's the Difference?

W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.

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HTML <input> Tag

Syntax

Examples

Basic Form

The `form` Attribute

Radio Buttons

Form-Associated Elements

Attributes

Element-Specific Attributes

Global Attributes

Event Handler Content Attributes

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

Template

Tag Details

Specifications

What's the Difference?

Related

HTML <input> Tag

Syntax

Examples

Basic Form

The form Attribute

Radio Buttons

Form-Associated Elements

Attributes

Element-Specific Attributes

Global Attributes

Event Handler Content Attributes

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

Template

Tag Details

Specifications

What's the Difference?

Related

The `form` Attribute