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HTML Reference

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HTML Tags

<!--> <!DOCTYPE> <a> <abbr> <acronym> <address> <applet> <area> <article> <aside> <audio> <b> <base> <basefont> <bdi> <bdo> <big> <blockquote> <body> <br> <button> <canvas> <caption> <center> <cite> <code> <col> <colgroup> <command> <datalist> <dd> <del> <details> <dfn> <dialog> <dir> <div> <dl> <dt> <em> <embed> <fieldset> <figcaption> <figure> <font> <footer> <form> <frame> <frameset> <head> <header> <hgroup> <h1> - <h6> <hr> <html> <i> <iframe> <img> <input> <ins> <kbd> <keygen> <label> <legend> <li> <link> <map> <mark> <menu> <meta> <meter> <nav> <noframes> <noscript> <object> <ol> <optgroup> <option> <output> <p> <param> <pre> <progress> <q> <rp> <rt> <ruby> <s> <samp> <script> <section> <select> <small> <source> <span> <strike> <strong> <style> <sub> <summary> <sup> <table> <tbody> <td> <textarea> <tfoot> <th> <thead> <time> <title> <tr> <track> <tt> <u> <ul> <var> <video> <wbr>

HTML <a> Tag

« HTML Reference

<abbr> Tag »

Example

A link to W3Schools.com:

<a href="http://www.w3schools.com">Visit W3Schools.com!</a>

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

Browser Support

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

Definition and Usage

The <a> tag defines a hyperlink, which is used to link from one page to another.

The most important attribute of the <a> element is the href attribute, which indicates the link’s destination.

By default, links will appear as follows in all browsers:

An unvisited link is underlined and blue
A visited link is underlined and purple
An active link is underlined and red

Tips and Notes

Tip: The following attributes: hreflang, media, rel, target, and type cannot be present if the href attribute is not present.

Tip: A linked page is normally displayed in the current browser window, unless you specify another target.

Tip: Use CSS to style links.

Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

In HTML 4.01, the <a> tag could be either a hyperlink or an anchor. In HTML5, the <a> tag is always a hyperlink, but if it has no href attribute, it is only a placeholder for a hyperlink.

HTML5 has some new attributes, and some HTML 4.01 attributes are no longer supported.

Attributes

New : New in HTML5.

Attribute	Value	Description
charset	char_encoding	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies the character-set of a linked document
coords	coordinates	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies the coordinates of a link
href	URL	Specifies the URL of the page the link goes to
hreflang	language_code	Specifies the language of the linked document
media New	media_query	Specifies what media/device the linked document is optimized for
name	section_name	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies the name of an anchor
rel	alternate author bookmark help license next nofollow noreferrer prefetch prev search tag	Specifies the relationship between the current document and the linked document
rev	text	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies the relationship between the linked document and the current document
shape	default rect circle poly	Not supported in HTML5. Specifies the shape of a link
target	_blank _parent _self _top framename	Specifies where to open the linked document
type New	MIME_type	Specifies the MIME type of the linked document