HTML 5 <thead> Tag

The HTML <thead> tag is used for adding a header to a table.

The <thead> tag is used in conjunction with the <tbody> tag and the <tfoot> tag in determining each part of the table (header, footer, body). Browsers can use this information to enable scrolling of the table body independently of the header and footer - particuarly useful for large tables. Also, when printing a large table that spans multiple pages, this information can enable the table header and footer to be printed at the top and bottom of each page.

Note: If you use the <thead> tag, it must be used in the following context:

  • As a child of a <table> element, after any <caption>, and <colgroup> elements and before any <tbody>, <tfoot>, and <tr> elements, but only if there are no other <thead> elements that are children of the <table> element.
  • The <thead> tag can contain zero or more <tr> elements and script supporting elements.

Demo

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
None 

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.