This chapter covers some of the new attributes for <form> and <input>.
New form attributes:
New input attributes:
- autocomplete
- autofocus
- form
- form overrides (formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate,
formtarget)
- height and width
- list
- min, max and step
- multiple
- pattern (regexp)
- placeholder
- required
Browser Support
Attribute |
IE |
Firefox |
Opera |
Chrome |
Safari |
autocomplete |
8.0 |
3.5 |
9.5 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
autofocus |
No |
4.0 |
10.0 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
form |
No |
4.0 |
9.5 |
10.0 |
No |
form overrides |
No |
4.0 |
10.5 |
10.0 |
No |
height and width |
8.0 |
3.5 |
9.5 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
list |
No |
4.0 |
9.5 |
No |
No |
min, max and step |
No |
No |
9.5 |
3.0 |
No |
multiple |
No |
3.5 |
11.0 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
novalidate |
No |
4.0 |
11.0 |
10.0 |
No |
pattern |
No |
4.0 |
9.5 |
3.0 |
No |
placeholder |
No |
4.0 |
11.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
required |
No |
4.0 |
9.5 |
3.0 |
No |
autocomplete Attribute
The autocomplete attribute specifies that the form or input field should
have an autocomplete function.
Note: The autocomplete attribute works with <form>, and the following <input> types:
text, search, url, telephone, email, password, datepickers, range, and color.
When the user starts to type in an autocomplete field, the browser should
display options to fill in the field:
Example
<form action="demo_form.asp" method="get" autocomplete="on">
First name: <input type="text" name="fname" /><br />
Last name: <input type="text" name="lname" /><br />
E-mail: <input type="email" name="email" autocomplete="off" /><br />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
Try it yourself »
Note: In some browsers you may need to activate the
autocomplete function for this to work.
autofocus Attribute
The autofocus attribute specifies that a field should automatically get focus
when a page is loaded.
Note: The autofocus attribute works with all <input> types.
Example
User name: <input type="text" name="user_name" autofocus="autofocus" />
Try it yourself »
form Attribute
The form attribute specifies one or more forms the input field belongs to.
Note: The form attribute works with all <input> types.
The form attribute must refer to the id of the form it belongs to:
Example
<form action="demo_form.asp" method="get" id="user_form">
First name:<input type="text" name="fname" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
Last name: <input type="text" name="lname" form="user_form"
/>
Try it yourself »
Note: To refer to more than one form, use a space-separated list.
Form Override Attributes
The form override attributes allow you to override some of the attributes set
for the form element.
The form override attributes are:
- formaction - Overrides the form action attribute
- formenctype - Overrides the form enctype attribute
- formmethod - Overrides the form method attribute
- formnovalidate - Overrides the form novalidate attribute
- formtarget - Overrides the form target attribute
Note: The form override attributes works with the following <input> types: submit and image.
Example
<form action="demo_form.asp" method="get" id="user_form">
E-mail: <input type="email" name="userid" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Submit" />
<br />
<input type="submit" formaction="demo_admin.asp" value="Submit as admin" />
<br
/>
<input type="submit" formnovalidate="true"
value="Submit without validation" />
<br
/>
</form>
Try it yourself »
Note: These attributes are helpful for creating different submit buttons.
height and width Attributes
The height and width attributes specifies the height and width of the image
used for the input type image.
Note: The height and width attributes only works with <input> type: image.
Example
<input type="image" src="img_submit.gif" width="24" height="24" />
Try it yourself »
list Attribute
The list attribute specifies a datalist for an input field. A datalist is a list of options for
an input field.
Note: The list attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone,
email, date pickers, number, range, and color.
Example
Webpage: <input type="url" list="url_list" name="link" />
<datalist id="url_list">
<option label="W3Schools" value="http://www.w3schools.com"
/>
<option label="Google" value="http://www.google.com" />
<option label="Microsoft" value="http://www.microsoft.com"
/>
</datalist>
Try it yourself »
min, max and step Attributes
The min, max and step attributes are used to specify restrictions for input
types containing numbers or dates.
The max attribute specifies the maximum value allowed for the input field.
The min attribute specifies the minimum value allowed for the input field.
The step attribute specifies the legal number intervals for the input field (if step="3", legal numbers could be -3,0,3,6, etc).
Note: The min, max, and step attributes works with the following <input> types: date pickers, number, and range.
The example below shows a numeric field that accepts values between 0 and 10,
with a step of 3 (legal numbers are 0, 3, 6 and 9):
Example
Points: <input type="number" name="points" min="0" max="10" step="3" />
Try it yourself »
multiple Attribute
The multiple attribute specifies that multiple values can be selected for an
input field.
Note: The multiple attribute works with the following <input> types: email, and file.
Example
Select images: <input type="file" name="img" multiple="multiple" />
Try it yourself »
novalidate Attribute
The novalidate attribute specifies that the form or input field should not be
validated when submitted.
If this attribute is present the form will not validate form input.
Note: The novalidate attribute works with: <form> and the following <input> types:
text, search, url, telephone, email, password, date pickers, range, and color.
Example
<form action="demo_form.asp" novalidate="novalidate">
E-mail: <input type="email" name="user_email" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
Try it yourself »
pattern Attribute
The pattern attribute specifies a pattern used to validate an input field.
The pattern is a regular expression. You can read about this in our
JavaScript tutorial.
Note: The pattern attribute works with the following <input> types:
text, search, url, telephone, email, and password
The example below shows a text field that can only contain three letters (no numbers
or special characters):
Example
Country code: <input type="text" name="country_code"
pattern="[A-z]{3}" title="Three letter country code" />
Try it yourself »
placeholder Attribute
The placeholder attribute provides a hint that describes the expected value
of an input field.
Note: The placeholder attribute works with the following <input> types:
text, search, url, telephone, email, and password
The hint is displayed in the input field when it is empty, and disappears when
the field gets focus:
Example
<input type="search" name="user_search" placeholder="Search W3Schools" />
Try it yourself »
required Attribute
The required attribute specifies that an input field must be filled out
before submitting.
Note: The required attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, password,
date pickers, number, checkbox, radio, and file.
Example
Name: <input type="text" name="usr_name" required="required" />
Try it yourself »