<option>

Summary

In a Web form, the HTML <option> element is used to create a control representing an item within a <select>, an <optgroup> or a <datalist> HTML5 element.

• Content categories None.
• Permitted content Text with eventually escaped characters (like é).
• Tag omission The start tag is mandatory. The end tag is optional if this element is immediately followed by another <option> element or an <optgroup>, or if the parent element has no more content.
• Permitted parent elements A <select>, an <optgroup> or a <datalist> element.
• DOM interface HTMLOptionElement

Attributes

This element includes the global attributes.

disabled

If this Boolean attribute is set, this option is not checkable. Often browsers grey out such control and it won't receive any browsing event, like mouse clicks or focus-related ones. If this attribute is not set, the element can still be disabled if one its ancestors is a disabled <optgroup> element.

label

This attribute is text for the label indicating the meaning of the option. If the label attribute isn't defined, its value is that of the element text content.

Usage note: the label attribute is designed to contain a short label typically used in a hierarchical menu. The value attribute describes a longer label designed to be used near a radio button, for example.

selected

If present, this Boolean attribute indicates that the option is initially selected. If the <option> element is the descendant of a<select> element whose multiple attribute is not set, only one single <option> of this <select> element may have the selected attribute.

value

The textual content of this attribute represents the label explaining the option. If it is not defined, its default value is the text content of the element.

Usage note: the label attribute is designed to contain a short label typically used in a hierarchical menu. The value attribute describes a longer label designed to be used near a radio button, for example.

Examples

See <select> examples.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Gecko notes

[1] Prior to Gecko 7.0, (Firefox 7.0 / Thunderbird 7.0 / SeaMonkey 2.4), the label attribute incorrectly returned an empty string if not defined, instead of returning the element text content.

See also

• Other form-related elements: <form>, <legend>, <label>, <button>, <select>, <datalist>, <optgroup>, <fieldset>, <textarea>, <keygen>, <input>, <output>, <progress> and <meter>.