<form>

The <form> HTML element represents a document section containing interactive controls for submitting information.

It is possible to use the :valid and :invalid CSS pseudo-classes to style a <form> element based on whether or not the elements inside the form are valid.

Attributes

This element includes the global attributes.

accept

Comma-separated content types the server accepts.

Note: This attribute was removed in HTML5 and should not be used. Instead, use the accept attribute on <input type=file> elements.

accept-charset

Space-separated character encodings the server accepts. The browser uses them in the order in which they are listed. The default value means the same encoding as the page. (In previous versions of HTML, character encodings could also be delimited by commas.)

autocapitalize

A nonstandard attribute used by iOS Safari that controls how textual form elements should be automatically capitalized. autocapitalize attributes on a form elements override it on <form>. Possible values:

• none: No automatic capitalization.
• sentences (default): Capitalize the first letter of each sentence.
• words: Capitalize the first letter of each word.
• characters: Capitalize all characters — that is, uppercase.

autocomplete

Indicates whether input elements can by default have their values automatically completed by the browser. autocomplete attributes on form elements override it on <form>. Possible values:

• off: The browser may not automatically complete entries. (Browsers tend to ignore this for suspected login forms; see The autocomplete attribute and login fields.)
• on: The browser may automatically complete entries.

name

The name of the form. The value must not be the empty string, and must be unique among the form elements in the forms collection that it is in, if any.

rel

Creates a hyperlink or annotation depending on the value, see the rel attribute for details.

Attributes for form submission

The following attributes control behavior during form submission.

action

The URL that processes the form submission. This value can be overridden by a formaction attribute on a <button>, <input type="submit">, or <input type="image"> element.

enctype

If the value of the method attribute is post, enctype is the MIME type of the form submission. Possible values:

• application/x-www-form-urlencoded: The default value.
• multipart/form-data: Use this if the form contains <input> elements with type=file.
• text/plain: Introduced by HTML5 for debugging purposes.

This value can be overridden by formenctype attributes on <button>, <input type="submit">, or <input type="image"> elements.

method

The HTTP method to submit the form with. Possible (case insensitive) values:

• post: The POST method; form data sent as the request body.
• get: The GET method; form data appended to the action URL with a ? separator. Use this method when the form has no side-effects.
• dialog: When the form is inside a <dialog>, closes the dialog on submission.

This value is overridden by formmethod attributes on <button>, <input type="submit">, or <input type="image"> elements.

novalidate

This Boolean attribute indicates that the form shouldn't be validated when submitted. If this attribute is not set (and therefore the form is validated), it can be overridden by a formnovalidate attribute on a <button>, <input type="submit">, or <input type="image"> element belonging to the form.

target

Indicates where to display the response after submitting the form. In HTML 4, this is the name/keyword for a frame. In HTML5, it is a name/keyword for a browsing context (for example, tab, window, or iframe). The following keywords have special meanings:

• _self (default): Load into the same browsing context as the current one.
• _blank: Load into a new unnamed browsing context.
• _parent: Load into the parent browsing context of the current one. If no parent, behaves the same as _self.
• _top: Load into the top-level browsing context (i.e., the browsing context that is an ancestor of the current one and has no parent). If no parent, behaves the same as _self.

This value can be overridden by a formtarget attribute on a <button>, <input type="submit">, or <input type="image"> element.

Note: Setting target="_blank" on <form> elements implicitly provides the same rel behavior as setting rel="noopener" which does not set window.opener.

Examples

HTML

<!-- Form which will send a GET request to the current URL -->
<form>
  <label>Name:
    <input name="submitted-name" autocomplete="name">
  </label>
  <button>Save</button>
</form>

<!-- Form which will send a POST request to the current URL -->
<form method="post">
  <label>Name:
    <input name="submitted-name" autocomplete="name">
  </label>
  <button>Save</button>
</form>

<!-- Form with fieldset, legend, and label -->
<form method="post">
  <fieldset>
    <legend>Title</legend>
    <label><input type="radio" name="radio"> Select me</label>
  </fieldset>
</form>

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• HTML forms guide
• Other elements that are used when creating forms: <button>, <datalist>, <fieldset>, <input>, <label>, <legend>, <meter>, <optgroup>, <option>, <output>, <progress>, <select>, <textarea>.
• Getting a list of the elements in the form: HTMLFormElement.elements
• ARIA: Form role
• ARIA: Search role