<pre>

Summary

The HTML <pre> Element (or HTML Preformatted Text) represents preformatted text. Text within this element is typically displayed in a non-proportional font exactly as it is laid out in the file. Whitespaces inside this element are displayed as typed.

• Content categories Flow content, palpable content.
• Permitted content Phrasing content.
• Tag omission None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
• Permitted parent elements Any element that accepts flow content.
• DOM interface HTMLPreElement

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

cols

Contains the preferred count of characters that a line should have. It was a non-standard synonym of width. To achieve such an effect, use CSS styling instead.

width

Contains the preferred count of characters that a line should have. Though technically still implemented, this attribute has no visual effect; to achieve such an effect, use CSS styling instead.

wrap

Is a hint indicating how the overflow must happen. In modern browser this hint is ignored and no visual effect results in its present; to achieve such an effect, use CSS styling instead.

Examples

<!-- Some example CSS code -->
<pre>
body {
  color:red;
}
</pre> 

Result

body {
  color:red;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• CSS: white-space, word-break