HTML form Tag

Example

An HTML form with two input fields and one submit button:

<form action="/action_page.php"method="get">
  First name: <input type="text"name="fname"><br>
  Last name: <input type="text"name="lname"><br>
  <input type="submit"value="Submit">
</form>

Try it Yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

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Definition and Usage

The <form> tag is used to create an HTML form for user input.

The <form> element can contain one or more of the following form elements:

• <input>
• <textarea>
• <button>
• <select>
• <option>
• <optgroup>
• <fieldset>
• <label>
• <output>

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Browser Support

Element
<form>	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

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Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

HTML5 has added two new attributes: autocomplete and novalidate, and removed the accept attribute.

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Differences Between HTML and XHTML

In XHTML, the name attribute is deprecated. Use the global id attribute instead.

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Attributes

= New in HTML5.

Attribute	Value	Description
accept	file_type	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies a comma-separated list of file types  that the server accepts (that can be submitted through the file upload)
accept-charset	character_set	Specifies the character encodings that are to be used for the form submission
action	URL	Specifies where to send the form-data when a form is submitted
autocomplete	on off	Specifies whether a form should have autocomplete on or off
enctype	application/x-www-form-urlencoded multipart/form-data text/plain	Specifies how the form-data should be encoded when submitting it to the server (only for method="post")
method	get post	Specifies the HTTP method to use when sending form-data
name	text	Specifies the name of a form
novalidate	novalidate	Specifies that the form should not be validated when submitted
target	_blank _self _parent _top	Specifies where to display the response that is received after submitting the form

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Global Attributes

The <form> tag also supports the Global Attributes in HTML.

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Event Attributes

The <form> tag also supports the Event Attributes in HTML.

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Try it Yourself - Examples

Form with checkboxes
A form with two checkboxes, and a submit button.

Form with radiobuttons
A form with two radio buttons, and a submit button.

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Related Pages

HTML tutorial: HTML Forms and Input

HTML DOM reference: Form Object

CSS Tutorial: Styling Forms

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Default CSS Settings

Most browsers will display the <form> element with the following default values:

Example

form {
  display: block;
  margin-top: 0em;}

Try it Yourself »