HTML 5 <button> Tag

The HTML <button> tag is used for creating a button control.

Although this tag is often used in conjunction with the <form> element, it can also be used as a standalone control.

Attributes

HTML tags can contain one or more attributes. Attributes are added to a tag to provide the browser with more information about how the tag should appear or behave. Attributes consist of a name and a value separated by an equals (=) sign, with the value surrounded by double quotes. Here's an example, style="color:black;".

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

The attributes that you can add to this tag are listed below.

Element-Specific Attributes

The following table shows the attributes that are specific to this tag/element.

AttributeDescription
autofocusAutomatically 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
disabledDisables the control. Therefore, if the user tries to use the control, nothing will happen.

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 disabled or disabled="disabled").

Possible values:

  • [Empty string]
  • disabled
formSpecifies the ID of a form to which this control belongs.

Possible values:

[The ID of a form element in the element's owner Document]
formactionSpecifies the URL of the file that will process the control when submitted.
formenctypeSpecifies 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)
formmethodSpecifies 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.)
formnovalidateSpecifies that the form is not to be validated during submission.

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 novalidate or novalidate="novalidate").

Possible values:

  • [Empty string]
  • novalidate
formtargetSpecifies the browsing context to load the destination indicated in the action attribute.

Possible values:

  • _blank
  • _self
  • _top
  • _parent
menuIf the type attribute has a value of menu, the menu attribute must be provided in order to specify the element's menu. The value must be the ID of a <menu> element in the same home subtree whose type attribute is in the popup menu state.

The menu attribute can only be used when the type attribute has a value of menu.
nameAssigns the name of the control.
typeSpecifies the type of button.

Possible values:

  • submit Submits the form. This is the default value.
  • reset Resets the form.
  • button Does nothing. You can use JavaScript to make the control actually do something.
  • menu Displays a menu. When using this value, you must specify the menu using the menu attribute (see above).
valueAssigns an initial value to the control. A button (and its value) is only included in the form submission if the button itself was used to initiate the form submission.

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML 5 tags (although the tabindex attribute does not apply to dialog elements).

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.

For a full list of event handlers, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

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