HTML 4 table Tag

Also see HTML5 `<table>` Tag.

This page is for the HTML 4 version of this element. For a more up to date version, see HTML5 <table> Tag.

The HTML <table> tag is used for defining a table. The table tag contains other tags that define the structure of the table.

Table Elements

Tables consist of the <table> element as well as other table-related elements. These other elements are nested inside the <table> tags to determine how the table is constructed.

The children of a <table> element must be, in order:

Zero or one <caption> elements
Zero or one <colgroup> elements
Zero or one<thead> elements
Zero or one <tfoot> elements (but only if the last element in the table is not a <tfoot> element)
Either:
- Zero or more <tbody> elements, or
- One or more <tr> elements (these represent the table rows)
Zero or one <tfoot> elements (but only if there are no other <tfoot> elements in the document)

Each <tr> element represents a row in the table. A row can have one or more <td> or <th> elements, which determine the columns in the table. Specifically, <td> represents table data and <th> represents a table header.

Example

Attributes

Attributes specific to this tag:
summary	Provides a summary of the table's structure and purpose for non-visual user agents.
align	Visual alignment of the table (i.e. left, center, right). This attribute is deprecated, use CSS instead.
width	Width of the table.
Other Attributes:
Attribute	Description
dir	Specifies the direction of the text
class	Document wide identifier.
id	Document wide identifier
lang	Language code
title	Specifies a title to associate with the element. Many browsers will display this when the cursor hovers over the element (similar to a "tool tip").
style	Inline style (CSS)
bgcolor	Background color of the table. Note: This attribute is deprecated, use the CSS background-color property instead.
frame	Used in conjunction with the `border` attribute, specifies which side of the frame that makes up the border surrounding the table is displayed. Possible values: void: None are displayed. This value is the default above: Top side of the frame below: Bottom side of the frame hsides: Top and bottom sides vsides: Right and left sides lhs: Left side rhs: Right side box: All sides border: All sides
rules	Used in conjunction with the `border` attribute, specifies which rules appear between the cells of the table. Possible values: None: None are displayed. This value is the default groups: Rules appear between row groups and column groups rows: Between rows cols: Between columns all: Between all rows and columns
border	Specifies the width of the border around the table. For no border, use 0 (zero).
cellspacing	Specifies the space between cells.
cellpadding	Specifies the space between the cell borders and their contents
onclick	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
ondbclick	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onmousedown	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onmouseup	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onmouseover	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onmousemove	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onmouseout	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onkeypress	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onkeydown	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)
onkeyup	Intrinsic event (see event handlers)

Try it Yourself!

Modify the code below, then click Update. See below for attributes.

HTML5 Tags

The information on this page is based on HTML version 4.01. Most modern browsers now support HTML5.

See HTML5 <table> Tag for the HTML5 version of the above element.

See this list of HTML tags for the latest list of HTML elements.