HTML 5 <a> Tag

The HTML <a> tag is used for creating a hyperlink to another web page.

You can use the target attribute to specify whether to open the web page in a new browser window or not.

You can also use this tag to link an image.

View Output

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
hrefSpecifies the URL of a page that the link goes to.
targetSpecifies the default browsing context to load the URL into. Only to be used when the href attribute is present.

Possible values:

  • _blank
  • _self
  • _top
  • _parent
  • Any string with at least one character that does not start with a U+005F LOW LINE character. In other words, cannot start with an underscore character (names starting with an underscore are reserved for special keywords).
downloadIndicates that the link is to be used for downloading a resource (such as a file). The author can specify a default file name by providing a value. This attribute is optional.

Value:

[Default file name.] (optional)
relDescribes the relationship between the current document and the destination URI. Only to be used when the href attribute is present. Multiple values can be provided, separated by a space.

Possible values:

ValueDescription
alternateGives alternate representations of the current document.
authorGives a link to the current document's author.
bookmarkProvides the permalink for the nearest ancestor section.
externalIndicates that the referenced document is not part of the same site as the current document.
helpProvides a link to context-sensitive help.
licenseIndicates that the main content of the current document is covered by the copyright license described by the referenced document.
nextIndicates that the current document is a part of a series, and that the next document in the series is the referenced document.
nofollowIndicates that the current document's original author or publisher does not endorse the referenced document. This attribute is often used to declare paid links to search engines such as Google, who, request that webmasters declare all paid links (eg, advertising) in this manner.
noopenerCreates a top-level browsing context that is not an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would create either of those to begin with (i.e., has an appropriate target attribute value).
noreferrerRequires that the user agent not send an HTTP Referer (sic) header if the user follows the hyperlink.
openerCreates an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would otherwise create a top-level browsing context that is not an auxiliary browsing context (i.e., has "_blank" as target attribute value).
prevIndicates that the current document is a part of a series, and that the previous document in the series is the referenced document.
searchGives a link to a resource that can be used to search through the current document and its related pages.
tagGives a tag (identified by the given address) that applies to the current document.
revReverse link relationship of the destination resource to this document (or subsection/topic).
hreflangLanguage code of the destination URL. Only to be used when the href attribute is present.
typeSpecifies the MIME type of the linked resource. Only to be used when the href attribute is present.
referrerpolicyReferrer policy for fetches initiated by the element.

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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