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HTML <th> Tag

Example

A simple HTML table with two header cells and two data cells:

<table border="1">
  <tr>
    <th>Month</th>
    <th>Savings</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>January</td>
    <td>$100</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Try it yourself »
(more examples at the bottom of this page)

Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The <th> tag is supported in all major browsers.

Definition and Usage

The <th> tag defines a header cell in an HTML table.

An HTML table has two kinds of cells:

  • Header cells - contains header information (created with the <th> element)
  • Standard cells - contains data (created with the <td> element)

The text in <th> elements are bold and centered by default.

The text in <td> elements are regular and left-aligned by default.

Tips and Notes

Tip: Use the colspan and rowspan attributes to let the content span over multiple columns or rows!

Differences Between HTML and XHTML

NONE

Optional Attributes

DTD indicates in which HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0 DTD the attribute is allowed. S=Strict, T=Transitional, and F=Frameset.

Attribute Value Description DTD
abbr text Specifies an abbreviated version of the content in a cell STF
align left
right
center
justify
char		 Aligns the content in a cell STF
axis category_name Categorizes cells STF
bgcolor rgb(x,x,x)
#xxxxxx
colorname		 Deprecated. Use styles instead.
Specifies the background color of a cell		 TF
char character Aligns the content in a cell to a character STF
charoff number  Sets the number of characters the content will be aligned from the character specified by the char attribute STF
colspan number Sets the number of columns a cell should span STF
height pixels
%		 Deprecated. Use styles instead.
Sets the height of a cell		 TF
nowrap nowrap Deprecated. Use styles instead.
Specifies that the content inside a cell should not wrap		 TF
rowspan number Sets the number of rows a cell should span STF
scope col
colgroup
row
rowgroup		 Defines a way to associate header cells and data cells in a table STF
valign top
middle
bottom
baseline		 Vertical aligns the content in a cell STF
width pixels
%		 Deprecated. Use styles instead.
Specifies the width of a cell		 TF

Standard Attributes

The <th> tag supports the following standard attributes:

Attribute Value Description DTD
class classname Specifies a classname for an element STF
dir rtl
ltr		 Specifies the text direction for the content in an element STF
id id Specifies a unique id for an element STF
lang language_code Specifies a language code for the content in an element STF
style style_definition Specifies an inline style for an element STF
title text Specifies extra information about an element STF
xml:lang language_code Specifies a language code for the content in an element, in XHTML documents STF

More information about Standard Attributes.

Event Attributes

The <th> tag supports the following event attributes:

Attribute Value Description DTD
onclick script Script to be run on a mouse click STF
ondblclick script Script to be run on a mouse double-click STF
onmousedown script Script to be run when mouse button is pressed STF
onmousemove script Script to be run when mouse pointer moves STF
onmouseout script Script to be run when mouse pointer moves out of an element STF
onmouseover script Script to be run when mouse pointer moves over an element STF
onmouseup script Script to be run when mouse button is released STF
onkeydown script Script to be run when a key is pressed STF
onkeypress script Script to be run when a key is pressed and released STF
onkeyup script Script to be run when a key is released STF

More information about Event Attributes.

Examples

Try it Yourself - Examples

Table borders
HTML tables with different borders.

Table headers
How to create table headers.

Empty cells
How to use "&nbsp;" to handle cells that have no content.

Table with a caption
An HTML table with a caption.

Tags inside a table
How to display elements inside other elements.

Cells that span more than one row/column
How to define table cells that span more than one row or one column.

Cellpadding
How to use cellpadding to create more white space between the cell content and its borders.

Cellspacing
How to use cellspacing to increase the distance between the cells.

The frame attribute
How to use the "frame" attribute to control the borders around the table.

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