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HTML <meta> http-equiv Attribute

HTML meta Tag Reference HTML <meta> tag

Example

Refresh document every 30 seconds:

Try it yourself »

Browser Support

The http-equiv attribute is supported in all major browsers.

Definition and Usage

The http-equiv attribute provides an HTTP header for the information/value of the content attribute.

The http-equiv attribute can be used to simulate an HTTP response header.

Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

Using http-equiv is no longer the only way to specify the character set of an HTML document:

HTML 4.01: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
HTML5: <meta charset="UTF-8">

Syntax

Attribute Values

Value	Description
content-type	Specifies the character encoding for the document. Example: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
default-style	Specified the preferred style sheet to use. Example: <meta http-equiv="default-style" content="id_of_link_element">
refresh	Defines a time interval for the document to refresh itself. Example: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300"> Note: The value "refresh" should be used carefully, as it takes the control of a page away from the user. Using "refresh" will cause a failure in W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Value

Description

content-type

Specifies the character encoding for the document.

Example:

default-style

Specified the preferred style sheet to use.

Example:

refresh

Defines a time interval for the document to refresh itself.

Example:

Note: The value "refresh" should be used carefully, as it takes the control of a page away from the user. Using "refresh" will cause a failure in W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

HTML <meta> tag