HTML
Living Standard — Last Updated 31 May 2024
Living Standard — Last Updated 31 May 2024
name attributedirname attributemaxlength attributeminlength attributedisabled attributeSubmitEvent interfaceFormDataEvent interfaceMost form controls have a value and a checkedness. (The latter is only used by input
elements.) These are used to describe how the user interacts with the control.
A control's value is its internal state. As such, it might not match the user's current input.
For instance, if a user enters the word "three" into a numeric field that expects digits, the user's input would
be the string "three" but the control's value would remain
unchanged. Or, if a user enters the email address " awesome@example.com"
(with leading whitespace) into an email field, the
user's input would be the string " awesome@example.com" but the browser's UI for
email fields might translate that into a value of "awesome@example.com" (without the leading whitespace).
input
and textarea elements have a dirty value flag.
This is used to track the interaction between the value and
default value. If it is false, value mirrors the default
value. If it is true, the default value is ignored.
input, textarea and select elements have a
user validity boolean. It is initially set to false.
To define the behavior of constraint validation in the face of the input
element's multiple attribute, input elements
can also have separately defined values.
To define the behavior of the maxlength and minlength attributes, as well as other APIs specific to the
textarea element, all form control with a value also have an algorithm for obtaining an API value. By
default this algorithm is to simply return the control's value.
The select element does not have a value;
the selectedness of its option
elements is what is used instead.
A form control can be designated as mutable.
This determines (by means of definitions and requirements in this specification that rely on whether an element is so designated) whether or not the user can modify the value or checkedness of a form control, or whether or not a control can be automatically prefilled.
A form-associated element can have a relationship with a form
element, which is called the element's form
owner. If a form-associated element is not associated with a form
element, its form owner is said to be null.
A form-associated element has an associated parser inserted flag.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
A form-associated element is, by default, associated with its nearest ancestor form element (as described
below), but, if it is listed, may have a form attribute specified to override this.
This feature allows authors to work around the lack of support for nested
form elements.
If a listed form-associated element has a
form attribute specified, then that attribute's value must be
the ID of a form element in the element's
tree.
The rules in this section are complicated by the fact that although conforming
documents or trees will never contain nested form
elements, it is quite possible (e.g., using a script that performs DOM manipulation) to generate
trees that have such nested elements. They are also complicated by
rules in the HTML parser that, for historical reasons, can result in a form-associated
element being associated with a form element that is not its ancestor.
When a form-associated element is created, its form owner must be initialized to null (no owner).
When a form-associated element is to be associated with a form, its form owner must be set to that form.
When a listed form-associated element's
form attribute is set, changed, or removed, then the user
agent must reset the form owner of that element.
When a listed form-associated element has a
form attribute and the ID of
any of the elements in the tree changes, then the user agent must reset the
form owner of that form-associated element.
When a listed form-associated element has a
form attribute and an element with an ID is inserted
into or removed from the
Document, then the user agent must reset the form owner of that
form-associated element.
The form owner is also reset by the HTML Standard's insertion steps and removing steps.
To reset the form owner of a form-associated element element:
Unset element's parser inserted flag.
If all of the following are true:
element's form owner is not null;
element is not listed or its form content attribute is not present; and
element's form owner is its nearest form element
ancestor after the change to the ancestor chain,
then return.
Set element's form owner to null.
If element is listed, has a form content attribute, and is connected, then:
If the first element in element's tree, in tree
order, to have an ID that is identical to
element's form content attribute's value, is a
form element, then associate the
element with that form element.
Otherwise, if element has an ancestor form element, then associate element with the nearest such
ancestor form element.
In the following non-conforming snippet
...
< form id = "a" >
< div id = "b" ></ div >
</ form >
< script >
document. getElementById( 'b' ). innerHTML =
'<table><tr><td></form><form id="c"><input id="d"></table>' +
'<input id="e">' ;
</ script >
...the form owner of "d" would be the inner nested form "c", while the form owner of "e" would be the outer form "a".
This happens as follows: First, the "e" node gets associated with "c" in the HTML
parser. Then, the innerHTML algorithm moves the nodes
from the temporary document to the "b" element. At this point, the nodes see their ancestor chain
change, and thus all the "magic" associations done by the parser are reset to normal ancestor
associations.
This example is a non-conforming document, though, as it is a violation of the content models
to nest form elements, and there is a parse error for the </form> tag.
element.formSupport in all current engines.
element, then it returns null.">HTMLSelectElement/form
Support in all current engines.
Returns the element's form owner.
Returns null if there isn't one.
Listed form-associated elements except for form-associated custom elements have a form IDL attribute, which, on getting, must return the
element's form owner, or null if there isn't one.
Support in all current engines.
Form-associated custom elements don't have
form IDL attribute. Instead, their
ElementInternals object has a form IDL attribute. On getting, it must throw a
"NotSupportedError" DOMException if the target element is not a form-associated custom
element. Otherwise, it must return the element's form owner, or null if there
isn't one.
name attributeSupport in all current engines.
The name content attribute gives the name of the form control, as
used in form submission and in the form element's elements object. If the attribute is specified, its value must
not be the empty string or isindex.
A number of user agents historically implemented special support for first-in-form
text controls with the name isindex, and this specification previously
defined related user agent requirements for it. However, some user agents subsequently dropped
that special support, and the related requirements were removed from this specification. So, to
avoid problematic reinterpretations in legacy user agents, the name isindex
is no longer allowed.
Other than isindex, any non-empty value for name is allowed. An ASCII case-insensitive match for
the name _charset_ is special: if used as
the name of a control with no value attribute, then during submission the value attribute is automatically given a value consisting of the
submission character encoding.
The name IDL attribute must reflect the name content attribute.
DOM clobbering is a common cause of security issues. Avoid using the names of
built-in form properties with the name content attribute.
In this example, the input element overrides the built-in method property:
let form = document. createElement( "form" );
let input = document. createElement( "input" );
form. appendChild( input);
form. method; // => "get"
input. name = "method" ; // DOM clobbering occurs here
form. method === input; // => true Since the input name takes precedence over built-in form properties, the JavaScript reference
form.method will point to the input element named "method"
instead of the built-in method property.
dirname attributeSupport in all current engines.
The dirname
attribute on a form control element enables the submission of the directionality of
the element, and gives the name of the control that contains this value during form
submission. If such an attribute is specified, its value must not be the empty string.
In this example, a form contains a text control and a submission button:
< form action = "addcomment.cgi" method = post >
< p >< label > Comment: < input type = text name = "comment" dirname = "comment.dir" required ></ label ></ p >
< p >< button name = "mode" type = submit value = "add" > Post Comment</ button ></ p >
</ form > When the user submits the form, the user agent includes three fields, one called "comment", one called "comment.dir", and one called "mode"; so if the user types "Hello", the submission body might be something like:
comment=Hello&comment.dir=ltr&mode=add
If the user manually switches to a right-to-left writing direction and enters "مرحبا", the submission body might be something like:
comment=%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%A7&comment.dir=rtl&mode=add
maxlength attributeA form
control maxlength attribute, controlled by the dirty value flag, declares a limit on the number of characters a
user can input. The number of characters is measured using length and, in the case
of textarea elements, with all newlines normalized to a single character (as opposed
to CRLF pairs).
If an element has its form control maxlength attribute specified, the attribute's value must be a valid
non-negative integer. If the attribute is specified and applying the rules for
parsing non-negative integers to its value results in a number, then that number is the
element's maximum allowed value length. If the attribute is omitted or parsing its
value results in an error, then there is no maximum allowed value length.
Constraint validation: If an element has a maximum allowed value length, its dirty value flag is true, its value was last changed by a user edit (as opposed to a change made by a script), and the length of the element's API value is greater than the element's maximum allowed value length, then the element is suffering from being too long.
User agents may prevent the user from causing the element's API value to be set to a value whose length is greater than the element's maximum allowed value length.
In the case of textarea elements, the API value and value
differ. In particular, newline normalization is applied
before the maximum allowed value length is checked (whereas the textarea
wrapping transformation is not applied).
minlength attributeA form
control minlength attribute, controlled by the dirty value flag, declares a lower bound on the number of
characters a user can input. The "number of characters" is measured using length and,
in the case of textarea elements, with all newlines normalized to a single character
(as opposed to CRLF pairs).
The minlength attribute does not imply the
required attribute. If the form control has no required attribute, then the value can still be omitted; the minlength attribute only kicks in once the user has entered a
value at all. If the empty string is not allowed, then the required
attribute also needs to be set.
If an element has its form control minlength attribute specified, the attribute's value must be a valid
non-negative integer. If the attribute is specified and applying the rules for
parsing non-negative integers to its value results in a number, then that number is the
element's minimum allowed value length. If the attribute is omitted or parsing its
value results in an error, then there is no minimum allowed value length.
If an element has both a maximum allowed value length and a minimum allowed value length, the minimum allowed value length must be smaller than or equal to the maximum allowed value length.
Constraint validation: If an element has a minimum allowed value length, its dirty value flag is true, its value was last changed by a user edit (as opposed to a change made by a script), its value is not the empty string, and the length of the element's API value is less than the element's minimum allowed value length, then the element is suffering from being too short.
In this example, there are four text controls. The first is required, and has to be at least 5 characters long. The other three are optional, but if the user fills one in, the user has to enter at least 10 characters.
< form action = "/events/menu.cgi" method = "post" >
< p >< label > Name of Event: < input required minlength = 5 maxlength = 50 name = event ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > Describe what you would like for breakfast, if anything:
< textarea name = "breakfast" minlength = "10" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > Describe what you would like for lunch, if anything:
< textarea name = "lunch" minlength = "10" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > Describe what you would like for dinner, if anything:
< textarea name = "dinner" minlength = "10" ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit value = "Submit Request" ></ p >
</ form > disabled attributeSupport in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
The disabled content attribute is a boolean
attribute.
The disabled attribute for
option elements and the disabled
attribute for optgroup elements are defined separately.
A form control is disabled if any of the following are true:
the element is a button, input, select,
textarea, or form-associated custom element, and the disabled attribute is specified on this element (regardless of
its value); or
the element is a descendant of a fieldset element whose disabled attribute is specified, and is not a
descendant of that fieldset element's first legend element child, if
any.
A form control that is disabled must prevent any click events that are queued on the
user interaction task source from being dispatched on the element.
Constraint validation: If an element is disabled, it is barred from constraint validation.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
The disabled IDL attribute must reflect the disabled content attribute.
Support in all current engines.
Attributes for form submission can be specified both on form elements
and on submit buttons (elements that represent buttons
that submit forms, e.g. an input element whose type attribute is in the Submit Button state).
The attributes for form submission that may be specified on form
elements are action, enctype, method, novalidate, and target.
The corresponding attributes for form submission that may be specified on submit buttons are formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, and formtarget. When omitted, they default to the values given on
the corresponding attributes on the form element.
Support in all current engines.
The action and
formaction
content attributes, if specified, must have a value that is a valid non-empty URL
potentially surrounded by spaces.
The action of an element is the value of the element's
formaction attribute, if the element is a submit button and has such an attribute, or the value of its
form owner's action attribute, if it has
one, or else the empty string.
Support in all current engines.
The method and
formmethod
content attributes are enumerated attributes with the
following keywords and states:
| Keyword | State | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
get
| GET | Indicates the form will use the HTTP GET method.
|
post
| POST | Indicates the form will use the HTTP POST method.
|
dialog
| Dialog | Indicates the form is intended to close the dialog box in which
the form finds itself, if any, and otherwise not submit.
|
The method attribute's missing value default and invalid value default
are both the GET state.
The formmethod attribute has no missing value default, and its invalid value
default is the GET state.
The method of an element is one of those states. If the
element is a submit button and has a formmethod attribute, then the element's method is that attribute's state; otherwise, it is the form
owner's method attribute's state.
Here the method attribute is used to explicitly specify
the default value, "get", so that the search
query is submitted in the URL:
< form method = "get" action = "/search.cgi" >
< p >< label > Search terms: < input type = search name = q ></ label ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit ></ p >
</ form > On the other hand, here the method attribute is used to
specify the value "post", so that the user's
message is submitted in the HTTP request's body:
< form method = "post" action = "/post-message.cgi" >
< p >< label > Message: < input type = text name = m ></ label ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit value = "Submit message" ></ p >
</ form > In this example, a form is used with a dialog. The method attribute's "dialog" keyword is used to have the dialog
automatically close when the form is submitted.
< dialog id = "ship" >
< form method = dialog >
< p > A ship has arrived in the harbour.</ p >
< button type = submit value = "board" > Board the ship</ button >
< button type = submit value = "call" > Call to the captain</ button >
</ form >
</ dialog >
< script >
var ship = document. getElementById( 'ship' );
ship. showModal();
ship. onclose = function ( event) {
if ( ship. returnValue == 'board' ) {
// ...
} else {
// ...
}
};
</ script > Support in all current engines.
The enctype and
formenctype
content attributes are enumerated attributes with the
following keywords and states:
application/x-www-form-urlencoded" keyword and
corresponding state.multipart/form-data" keyword and corresponding
state.text/plain" keyword and corresponding state.The attribute's missing value default and invalid value default are both the application/x-www-form-urlencoded state.
The formenctype attribute has no missing value default, and its invalid value
default is the application/x-www-form-urlencoded state.
The enctype of an element is one of those three states.
If the element is a submit button and has a formenctype attribute, then the element's enctype is that attribute's state; otherwise, it is the
form owner's enctype attribute's state.
Support in all current engines.
The target and
formtarget
content attributes, if specified, must have values that are valid navigable target names or keywords.
Support in all current engines.
The novalidate and formnovalidate content attributes are boolean attributes. If present, they indicate that the form is
not to be validated during submission.
The no-validate state of an element is true if the
element is a submit button and the element's formnovalidate attribute is present, or if the element's
form owner's novalidate attribute is present,
and false otherwise.
This attribute is useful to include "save" buttons on forms that have validation constraints, to allow users to save their progress even though they haven't fully entered the data in the form. The following example shows a simple form that has two required fields. There are three buttons: one to submit the form, which requires both fields to be filled in; one to save the form so that the user can come back and fill it in later; and one to cancel the form altogether.
< form action = "editor.cgi" method = "post" >
< p >< label > Name: < input required name = fn ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > Essay: < textarea required name = essay ></ textarea ></ label ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit name = submit value = "Submit essay" ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit formnovalidate name = save value = "Save essay" ></ p >
< p >< input type = submit formnovalidate name = cancel value = "Cancel" ></ p >
</ form > element.">HTMLFormElement/action
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
Support in all current engines.
The action IDL
attribute must reflect the content attribute of the same name, except that on
getting, when the content attribute is missing or its value is the empty string, the element's
node document's URL must be returned
instead. The target
IDL attribute must reflect the content attribute of the same name. The method and enctype IDL attributes must
reflect the respective content attributes of the same name, limited to only
known values. The encoding IDL attribute must reflect the enctype content attribute, limited to only known
values. The noValidate IDL attribute must reflect the
novalidate content attribute. The formAction
IDL attribute must reflect the formaction
content attribute, except that on getting, when the content attribute is missing or its value is
the empty string, the element's node document's URL must be returned instead. The formEnctype IDL attribute must reflect the
formenctype content attribute, limited to only
known values. The formMethod IDL attribute must reflect the
formmethod content attribute, limited to only known
values. The formNoValidate IDL attribute must reflect
the formnovalidate content attribute. The formTarget IDL
attribute must reflect the formtarget
content attribute.
autocomplete attributeSupport in all current engines.
User agents sometimes have features for helping users fill forms in, for example prefilling the
user's address based on earlier user input. The autocomplete content attribute can be used to hint to
the user agent how to, or indeed whether to, provide such a feature.
There are two ways this attribute is used. When wearing the autofill expectation
mantle, the autocomplete attribute describes what
input is expected from users. When wearing the autofill anchor mantle, the autocomplete attribute describes the meaning of the given
value.
On an input element whose type attribute is
in the state, the autocomplete attribute wears the autofill anchor
mantle. In all other cases, it wears the autofill expectation mantle.
When wearing the autofill expectation mantle, the autocomplete attribute, if specified, must have a value that
is an ordered set of space-separated tokens consisting of either a single token that
is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the string "off", or a single token that is an ASCII
case-insensitive match for the string "on",
or autofill detail tokens.
When wearing the autofill anchor
mantle, the autocomplete attribute, if specified, must have a value that is an ordered set of
space-separated tokens consisting of just autofill detail tokens (i.e. the
"on" and "off" keywords are not allowed).
Autofill detail tokens are the following, in the order given below:
Optionally, a token whose first eight characters are an ASCII case-insensitive
match for the string "section-", meaning that the field belongs to
the named group.
For example, if there are two shipping addresses in the form, then they could be marked up as:
< fieldset >
< legend > Ship the blue gift to...</ legend >
< p > < label > Address: < textarea name = ba autocomplete = "section-blue shipping street-address" ></ textarea > </ label >
< p > < label > City: < input name = bc autocomplete = "section-blue shipping address-level2" > </ label >
< p > < label > Postal Code: < input name = bp autocomplete = "section-blue shipping postal-code" > </ label >
</ fieldset >
< fieldset >
< legend > Ship the red gift to...</ legend >
< p > < label > Address: < textarea name = ra autocomplete = "section-red shipping street-address" ></ textarea > </ label >
< p > < label > City: < input name = rc autocomplete = "section-red shipping address-level2" > </ label >
< p > < label > Postal Code: < input name = rp autocomplete = "section-red shipping postal-code" > </ label >
</ fieldset > Optionally, a token that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the following strings:
shipping", meaning the field is part of the
shipping address or contact information
billing", meaning the field is part of the
billing address or contact information
Either of the following two options:
A token that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the following autofill field names, excluding those that are inappropriate for the control:
name"
honorific-prefix"
given-name"
additional-name"
family-name"
honorific-suffix"
nickname"
username"
new-password"
current-password"
one-time-code"
organization-title"
organization"
street-address"
address-line1"
address-line2"
address-line3"
address-level4"
address-level3"
address-level2"
address-level1"
country"
country-name"
postal-code"
cc-name"
cc-given-name"
cc-additional-name"
cc-family-name"
cc-number"
cc-exp"
cc-exp-month"
cc-exp-year"
cc-csc"
cc-type"
transaction-currency"
transaction-amount"
language"
bday"
bday-day"
bday-month"
bday-year"
sex"
url"
photo"
(See the table below for descriptions of these values.)
The following, in the given order:
Optionally, a token that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the following strings:
home", meaning the field is for contacting
someone at their residence
work", meaning the field is for contacting
someone at their workplace
mobile", meaning the
field is for contacting someone regardless of location
fax", meaning the field describes a fax
machine's contact details
pager", meaning the field describes a
pager's or beeper's contact details
A token that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the following autofill field names, excluding those that are inappropriate for the control:
tel"
tel-country-code"
tel-national"
tel-area-code"
tel-local"
tel-local-prefix"
tel-local-suffix"
tel-extension"
email"
impp"
(See the table below for descriptions of these values.)
Optionally, a token that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the string
"webauthn", meaning the user agent
should show public key credentials available via
conditional mediation when the user interacts with the
form control. webauthn is only valid for
input and textarea elements.
As noted earlier, the meaning of the attribute and its keywords depends on the mantle that the attribute is wearing.
The "off" keyword indicates either that the control's
input data is particularly sensitive (for example the activation code for a nuclear weapon); or
that it is a value that will never be reused (for example a one-time-key for a bank login) and
the user will therefore have to explicitly enter the data each time, instead of being able to
rely on the UA to prefill the value for them; or that the document provides its own autocomplete
mechanism and does not want the user agent to provide autocompletion values.
The "on" keyword indicates that the user agent is
allowed to provide the user with autocompletion values, but does not provide any further
information about what kind of data the user might be expected to enter. User agents would have
to use heuristics to decide what autocompletion values to suggest.
The autofill field listed above indicate that the user agent is allowed to provide the user with autocompletion values, and specifies what kind of value is expected. The meaning of each such keyword is described in the table below.
If the autocomplete attribute is omitted, the default
value corresponding to the state of the element's form owner's autocomplete attribute is used instead (either "on" or "off"). If there is no form owner, then the
value "on" is used.
The autofill field listed above indicate that the value of the particular kind of value specified is that value provided for this element. The meaning of each such keyword is described in the table below.
In this example the page has explicitly specified the currency and amount of the transaction. The form requests a credit card and other billing details. The user agent could use this information to suggest a credit card that it knows has sufficient balance and that supports the relevant currency.
< form method = post action = "step2.cgi" >
< input type = hidden autocomplete = transaction-currency value = "CHF" >
< input type = hidden autocomplete = transaction-amount value = "15.00" >
< p >< label > Credit card number: < input type = text inputmode = numeric autocomplete = cc-number ></ label >
< p >< label > Expiry Date: < input type = month autocomplete = cc-exp ></ label >
< p >< input type = submit value = "Continue..." >
</ form > The autofill field keywords relate to each other as described in the table below. Each field name
listed on a row of this table corresponds to the meaning given in the cell for that row in the
column labeled "Meaning". Some fields correspond to subparts of other fields; for example, a
credit card expiry date can be expressed as one field giving both the month and year of expiry
("cc-exp"), or as two fields, one giving the
month ("cc-exp-month") and one the year
("cc-exp-year"). In such cases, the names of
the broader fields cover multiple rows, in which the narrower fields are defined.
Generally, authors are encouraged to use the broader fields rather than the narrower fields, as the narrower fields tend to expose Western biases. For example, while it is common in some Western cultures to have a given name and a family name, in that order (and thus often referred to as a first name and a surname), many cultures put the family name first and the given name second, and many others simply have one name (a mononym). Having a single field is therefore more flexible.
Some fields are only appropriate for certain form controls. An autofill field name is inappropriate for a control if the control does not belong to the group listed for that autofill field in the fifth column of the first row describing that autofill field in the table below. What controls fall into each group is described below the table.
| Field name | Meaning | Canonical Format | Canonical Format Example | Control group | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"name"
| Full name | Free-form text, no newlines | Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA | Text | |||
"honorific-prefix"
| Prefix or title (e.g. "Mr.", "Ms.", "Dr.", "Mlle") | Free-form text, no newlines | Sir | Text | |||
"given-name"
| Given name (in some Western cultures, also known as the first name) | Free-form text, no newlines | Timothy | Text | |||
"additional-name"
| Additional names (in some Western cultures, also known as middle names, forenames other than the first name) | Free-form text, no newlines | John | Text | |||
"family-name"
| Family name (in some Western cultures, also known as the last name or surname) | Free-form text, no newlines | Berners-Lee | Text | |||
"honorific-suffix"
| Suffix (e.g. "Jr.", "B.Sc.", "MBASW", "II") | Free-form text, no newlines | OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA | Text | |||
"nickname"
| Nickname, screen name, handle: a typically short name used instead of the full name | Free-form text, no newlines | Tim | Text | |||
"organization-title"
| Job title (e.g. "Software Engineer", "Senior Vice President", "Deputy Managing Director") | Free-form text, no newlines | Professor | Text | |||
"username"
| A username | Free-form text, no newlines | timbl | Username | |||
"new-password"
| A new password (e.g. when creating an account or changing a password) | Free-form text, no newlines | GUMFXbadyrS3 | Password | |||
"current-password"
| The current password for the account identified by the username field (e.g. when logging in)
| Free-form text, no newlines | qwerty | Password | |||
"one-time-code"
| One-time code used for verifying user identity | Free-form text, no newlines | 123456 | Password | |||
"organization"
| Company name corresponding to the person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field | Free-form text, no newlines | World Wide Web Consortium | Text | |||
"street-address"
| Street address (multiple lines, newlines preserved) | Free-form text | 32 Vassar Street MIT Room 32-G524 | Multiline | |||
"address-line1"
| Street address (one line per field) | Free-form text, no newlines | 32 Vassar Street | Text | |||
"address-line2"
| Free-form text, no newlines | MIT Room 32-G524 | Text | ||||
"address-line3"
| Free-form text, no newlines | Text | |||||
"address-level4"
| The most fine-grained administrative level, in addresses with four administrative levels | Free-form text, no newlines | Text | ||||
"address-level3"
| The third administrative level, in addresses with three or more administrative levels | Free-form text, no newlines | Text | ||||
"address-level2"
| The second administrative level, in addresses with two or more administrative levels; in the countries with two administrative levels, this would typically be the city, town, village, or other locality within which the relevant street address is found | Free-form text, no newlines | Cambridge | Text | |||
"address-level1"
| The broadest administrative level in the address, i.e. the province within which the locality is found; for example, in the US, this would be the state; in Switzerland it would be the canton; in the UK, the post town | Free-form text, no newlines | MA | Text | |||
"country"
| Country code | Valid ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 country code [ISO3166] | US | Text | |||
"country-name"
| Country name | Free-form text, no newlines; derived from country in some cases
| US | Text | |||
"postal-code"
| Postal code, post code, ZIP code, CEDEX code (if CEDEX, append "CEDEX", and the arrondissement, if relevant, to the address-level2 field)
| Free-form text, no newlines | 02139 | Text | |||
"cc-name"
| Full name as given on the payment instrument | Free-form text, no newlines | Tim Berners-Lee | Text | |||
"cc-given-name"
| Given name as given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as the first name) | Free-form text, no newlines | Tim | Text | |||
"cc-additional-name"
| Additional names given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as middle names, forenames other than the first name) | Free-form text, no newlines | Text | ||||
"cc-family-name"
| Family name given on the payment instrument (in some Western cultures, also known as the last name or surname) | Free-form text, no newlines | Berners-Lee | Text | |||
"cc-number"
| Code identifying the payment instrument (e.g. the credit card number) | ASCII digits | 4114360123456785 | Text | |||
"cc-exp"
| Expiration date of the payment instrument | Valid month string | 2014-12 | Month | |||
"cc-exp-month"
| Month component of the expiration date of the payment instrument | Valid integer in the range 1..12 | 12 | Numeric | |||
"cc-exp-year"
| Year component of the expiration date of the payment instrument | Valid integer greater than zero | 2014 | Numeric | |||
"cc-csc"
| Security code for the payment instrument (also known as the card security code (CSC), card validation code (CVC), card verification value (CVV), signature panel code (SPC), credit card ID (CCID), etc.) | ASCII digits | 419 | Text | |||
"cc-type"
| Type of payment instrument | Free-form text, no newlines | Visa | Text | |||
"transaction-currency"
| The currency that the user would prefer the transaction to use | ISO 4217 currency code [ISO4217] | GBP | Text | |||
"transaction-amount"
| The amount that the user would like for the transaction (e.g. when entering a bid or sale price) | Valid floating-point number | 401.00 | Numeric | |||
"language"
| Preferred language | Valid BCP 47 language tag [BCP47] | en | Text | |||
"bday"
| Birthday | Valid date string | 1955-06-08 | Date | |||
"bday-day"
| Day component of birthday | Valid integer in the range 1..31 | 8 | Numeric | |||
"bday-month"
| Month component of birthday | Valid integer in the range 1..12 | 6 | Numeric | |||
"bday-year"
| Year component of birthday | Valid integer greater than zero | 1955 | Numeric | |||
"sex"
| Gender identity (e.g. Female, Fa'afafine) | Free-form text, no newlines | Male | Text | |||
"url"
| Home page or other web page corresponding to the company, person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field | Valid URL string | https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/ | URL | |||
"photo"
| Photograph, icon, or other image corresponding to the company, person, address, or contact information in the other fields associated with this field | Valid URL string | https://www.w3.org/Press/Stock/Berners-Lee/2001-europaeum-eighth.jpg | URL | |||
"tel"
| Full telephone number, including country code | ASCII digits and U+0020 SPACE characters, prefixed by a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) | +1 617 253 5702 | Tel | |||
"tel-country-code"
| Country code component of the telephone number | ASCII digits prefixed by a U+002B PLUS SIGN character (+) | +1 | Text | |||
"tel-national"
| Telephone number without the county code component, with a country-internal prefix applied if applicable | ASCII digits and U+0020 SPACE characters | 617 253 5702 | Text | |||
"tel-area-code"
| Area code component of the telephone number, with a country-internal prefix applied if applicable | ASCII digits | 617 | Text | |||
"tel-local"
| Telephone number without the country code and area code components | ASCII digits | 2535702 | Text | |||
"tel-local-prefix"
| First part of the component of the telephone number that follows the area code, when that component is split into two components | ASCII digits | 253 | Text | |||
"tel-local-suffix"
| Second part of the component of the telephone number that follows the area code, when that component is split into two components | ASCII digits | 5702 | Text | |||
"tel-extension"
| Telephone number internal extension code | ASCII digits | 1000 | Text | |||
"email"
| Email address | Valid email address | timbl@w3.org | Username | |||
"impp"
| URL representing an instant messaging protocol endpoint (for example, "aim:goim?screenname=example" or "xmpp:fred@example.net")
| Valid URL string | irc://example.org/timbl,isuser | URL | |||
The groups correspond to controls as follows:
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Password state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the URL state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Email state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Telephone state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Number state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Month state
textarea elements
select elements
input elements with a type attribute in the Hidden state
input elements with a type attribute in the Text state
input elements with a type attribute in the Search state
input elements with a type attribute in the Date state
textarea elements
select elements
Address levels: The "address-level1" – "address-level4" fields are used to describe
the locality of the street address. Different locales have different numbers of levels. For
example, the US uses two levels (state and town), the UK uses one or two depending on the address
(the post town, and in some cases the locality), and China can use three (province, city,
district). The "address-level1" field
represents the widest administrative division. Different locales order the fields in different
ways; for example, in the US the town (level 2) precedes the state (level 1); while in Japan the
prefecture (level 1) precedes the city (level 2) which precedes the district (level 3). Authors
are encouraged to provide forms that are presented in a way that matches the country's conventions
(hiding, showing, and rearranging fields accordingly as the user changes the country).
Each input element to which the autocomplete attribute applies, each select element, and each textarea element, has an
autofill hint set, an autofill scope, an autofill field name, a
non-autofill credential type, and an IDL-exposed autofill value.
The autofill field name specifies the specific kind of data expected in the field,
e.g. "street-address" or "cc-exp".
The autofill hint set identifies what address or contact information type the user
agent is to look at, e.g. "shipping fax" or "billing".
The non-autofill credential type identifies a type of
credential that may be offered by the user agent when the
user interacts with the field alongside other autofill field values. If this value is
"webauthn" instead of null, selecting a credential of that type will resolve
a pending conditional mediation
navigator.credentials.get() request, instead of autofilling the field.
For example, a sign-in page could instruct the user agent to either autofill a saved password,
or show a public key credential that will resolve a pending
navigator.credentials.get() request. A user can select either to sign-in.
< input name = password type = password autocomplete = "current-password webauthn" > The autofill scope identifies the group of fields whose information concerns the
same subject, and consists of the autofill hint set with, if
applicable, the "section-*" prefix, e.g. "billing",
"section-parent shipping", or "section-child shipping
home".
These values are defined as the result of running the following algorithm:
If the element has no autocomplete attribute,
then jump to the step labeled default.
Let tokens be the result of splitting the attribute's value on ASCII whitespace.
If tokens is empty, then jump to the step labeled default.
Let index be the index of the last token in tokens.
Let field be the indexth token in tokens.
Set the category, maximum tokens pair to the result of determining a field's category given field.
If category is null, then jump to the step labeled default.
If the number of tokens in tokens is greater than maximum tokens, then jump to the step labeled default.
If category is Off or Automatic but the element's autocomplete attribute is wearing the autofill anchor
mantle, then jump to the step labeled default.
If category is Off, let the element's autofill field name
be the string "off", let its autofill hint set be empty, and
let its IDL-exposed autofill value be the string "off". Then,
return.
If category is Automatic, let the element's autofill field
name be the string "on", let its autofill hint set be
empty, and let its IDL-exposed autofill value be the string "on". Then, return.
Let scope tokens be an empty list.
Let hint tokens be an empty set.
Let credential type be null.
Let IDL value have the same value as field.
If category is Credential and the indexth token in tokens is
an ASCII case-insensitive match for "webauthn", then run the substeps that follow:
Set credential type to "webauthn".
If the indexth token in tokens is the first entry, then skip to the step labeled done.
Decrement index by one.
Set the category, maximum tokens pair to the result of determining a field's category given the indexth token in tokens.
If category is not Normal and category is not Contact, then jump to the step labeled default.
If index is greater than maximum tokens minus one (i.e. if the number of remaining tokens is greater than maximum tokens), then jump to the step labeled default.
Set IDL value to the concatenation of the indexth token in tokens, a U+0020 SPACE character, and the previous value of IDL value.
If the indexth token in tokens is the first entry, then skip to the step labeled done.
Decrement index by one.
If category is Contact and the indexth token in tokens is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the strings in the following list, then run the substeps that follow:
The substeps are:
Let contact be the matching string from the list above.
Insert contact at the start of scope tokens.
Add contact to hint tokens.
Let IDL value be the concatenation of contact, a U+0020 SPACE character, and the previous value of IDL value.
If the indexth entry in tokens is the first entry, then skip to the step labeled done.
Decrement index by one.
If the indexth token in tokens is an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the strings in the following list, then run the substeps that follow:
The substeps are:
Let mode be the matching string from the list above.
Insert mode at the start of scope tokens.
Add mode to hint tokens.
Let IDL value be the concatenation of mode, a U+0020 SPACE character, and the previous value of IDL value.
If the indexth entry in tokens is the first entry, then skip to the step labeled done.
Decrement index by one.
If the indexth entry in tokens is not the first entry, then jump to the step labeled default.
If the first eight characters of the indexth token in tokens are not
an ASCII case-insensitive match for the string "section-", then jump to the step labeled
default.
Let section be the indexth token in tokens, converted to ASCII lowercase.
Insert section at the start of scope tokens.
Let IDL value be the concatenation of section, a U+0020 SPACE character, and the previous value of IDL value.
Done: Let the element's autofill hint set be hint tokens.
Let the element's non-autofill credential type be credential type.
Let the element's autofill scope be scope tokens.
Let the element's autofill field name be field.
Let the element's IDL-exposed autofill value be IDL value.
Return.
Default: Let the element's IDL-exposed autofill value be the empty string, and its autofill hint set and autofill scope be empty.
If the element's autocomplete attribute is
wearing the autofill anchor mantle, then let the element's autofill field
name be the empty string and return.
Let form be the element's form owner, if any, or null otherwise.
If form is not null and form's autocomplete attribute is in the off state, then let the element's
autofill field name be "off".
Otherwise, let the element's autofill field name be "on".
To determine a field's category, given field:
If the field is not an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the tokens given in the first column of the following table, return the pair (null, null).
| Token | Maximum number of tokens | Category |
|---|---|---|
"off"
| 1 | Off |
"on"
| 1 | Automatic |
"name"
| 3 | Normal |
"honorific-prefix"
| 3 | Normal |
"given-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"additional-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"family-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"honorific-suffix"
| 3 | Normal |
"nickname"
| 3 | Normal |
"organization-title"
| 3 | Normal |
"username"
| 3 | Normal |
"new-password"
| 3 | Normal |
"current-password"
| 3 | Normal |
"one-time-code"
| 3 | Normal |
"organization"
| 3 | Normal |
"street-address"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-line1"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-line2"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-line3"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-level4"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-level3"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-level2"
| 3 | Normal |
"address-level1"
| 3 | Normal |
"country"
| 3 | Normal |
"country-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"postal-code"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-given-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-additional-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-family-name"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-number"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-exp"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-exp-month"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-exp-year"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-csc"
| 3 | Normal |
"cc-type"
| 3 | Normal |
"transaction-currency"
| 3 | Normal |
"transaction-amount"
| 3 | Normal |
"language"
| 3 | Normal |
"bday"
| 3 | Normal |
"bday-day"
| 3 | Normal |
"bday-month"
| 3 | Normal |
"bday-year"
| 3 | Normal |
"sex"
| 3 | Normal |
"url"
| 3 | Normal |
"photo"
| 3 | Normal |
"tel"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-country-code"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-national"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-area-code"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-local"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-local-prefix"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-local-suffix"
| 4 | Contact |
"tel-extension"
| 4 | Contact |
"email"
| 4 | Contact |
"impp"
| 4 | Contact |
"webauthn"
| 5 | Credential |
Otherwise, let maximum tokens and category be the values of the cells in the second and third columns of that row respectively.
Return the pair (category, maximum tokens).
For the purposes of autofill, a control's data depends on the kind of control:
input element with its type attribute
in the Email state and with the multiple attribute specifiedinput elementtextarea elementselect element with its multiple
attribute specifiedoption elements in the select element's list of options that have their selectedness set to true.select elementoption element in the select element's list of options that has its selectedness set to true.How to process the autofill hint set, autofill scope, and
autofill field name depends on the mantle that the autocomplete attribute is wearing.
When an element's autofill field name is "off", the user agent should not remember the control's
data, and should not offer past values to the user.
In addition, when an element's autofill field name is "off", values are
reset when reactivating a document.
Banks frequently do not want UAs to prefill login information:
< p >< label > Account: < input type = "text" name = "ac" autocomplete = "off" ></ label ></ p >
< p >< label > PIN: < input type = "password" name = "pin" autocomplete = "off" ></ label ></ p > When an element's autofill field name is not "off", the user agent may store the control's
data, and may offer previously stored values to the user.
For example, suppose a user visits a page with this control:
< select name = "country" >
< option > Afghanistan
< option > Albania
< option > Algeria
< option > Andorra
< option > Angola
< option > Antigua and Barbuda
< option > Argentina
< option > Armenia
<!-- ... -->
< option > Yemen
< option > Zambia
< option > Zimbabwe
</ select > This might render as follows:
Suppose that on the first visit to this page, the user selects "Zambia". On the second visit, the user agent could duplicate the entry for Zambia at the top of the list, so that the interface instead looks like this:
When the autofill field name is "on", the user agent should attempt to use heuristics to
determine the most appropriate values to offer the user, e.g. based on the element's name value, the position of the element in its tree,
what other fields exist in the form, and so forth.
When the autofill field name is one of the names of the autofill fields described above, the user agent should provide suggestions that match the meaning of the field name as given in the table earlier in this section. The autofill hint set should be used to select amongst multiple possible suggestions.
For example, if a user once entered one address into fields that used the
"shipping" keyword, and another address into
fields that used the "billing" keyword, then in
subsequent forms only the first address would be suggested for form controls whose autofill
hint set contains the keyword "shipping". Both addresses might be suggested,
however, for address-related form controls whose autofill hint set does not contain
either keyword.
When the autofill field name is not the empty string, then the user agent must act as if the user had specified the control's data for the given autofill hint set, autofill scope, and autofill field name combination.
When the user agent autofills form controls, elements
with the same form owner and the same autofill scope must use data
relating to the same person, address, payment instrument, and contact details. When a user agent autofills "country" and "country-name" fields with the same form
owner and autofill scope, and the user agent has a value for the country" field(s), then the "country-name" field(s) must be filled using a
human-readable name for the same country. When a user agent fills in multiple fields at
once, all fields with the same autofill field name, form owner and
autofill scope must be filled with the same value.
Suppose a user agent knows of two phone numbers, +1 555 123 1234 and +1 555 666
7777. It would not be conforming for the user agent to fill a field with autocomplete="shipping tel-local-prefix" with the value "123" and another field
in the same form with autocomplete="shipping tel-local-suffix" with the
value "7777". The only valid prefilled values given the aforementioned information would be "123"
and "1234", or "666" and "7777", respectively.
Similarly, if a form for some reason contained both a "cc-exp" field and a "cc-exp-month" field, and the user agent
prefilled the form, then the month component of the former would have to match the latter.
This requirement interacts with the autofill anchor mantle also. Consider the following markup snippet:
< form >
< input type = hidden autocomplete = "nickname" value = "TreePlate" >
< input type = text autocomplete = "nickname" >
</ form > The only value that a conforming user agent could suggest in the text control is "TreePlate",
the value given by the hidden input element.
The "section-*" tokens in the autofill scope are opaque;
user agents must not attempt to derive meaning from the precise values of these tokens.
For example, it would not be conforming if the user agent decided that it
should offer the address it knows to be the user's daughter's address for
"section-child" and the addresses it knows to be the user's spouses'
addresses for "section-spouse".
The autocompletion mechanism must be implemented by the user agent acting as if the user had modified the control's data, and must be done at a time where the element is mutable (e.g. just after the element has been inserted into the document, or when the user agent stops parsing). User agents must only prefill controls using values that the user could have entered.
For example, if a select element only has option
elements with values "Steve" and "Rebecca", "Jay", and "Bob", and has an autofill field
name "given-name", but the user
agent's only idea for what to prefill the field with is "Evan", then the user agent cannot prefill
the field. It would not be conforming to somehow set the select element to the value
"Evan", since the user could not have done so themselves.
A user agent prefilling a form control must not discriminate between form controls that are
in a document tree and those that are connected; that is, it is not
conforming to make the decision on whether or not to autofill based on whether the element's
root is a shadow root versus a Document.
A user agent prefilling a form control's value must not cause that control to suffer from a type mismatch, suffer from being too long, suffer from being too short, suffer from an underflow, suffer from an overflow, or suffer from a step mismatch. A user agent prefilling a form control's value must not cause that control to suffer from a pattern mismatch either. Where possible given the control's constraints, user agents must use the format given as canonical in the aforementioned table. Where it's not possible for the canonical format to be used, user agents should use heuristics to attempt to convert values so that they can be used.
For example, if the user agent knows that the user's middle name is "Ines", and attempts to prefill a form control that looks like this:
< input name = middle-initial maxlength = 1 autocomplete = "additional-name" > ...then the user agent could convert "Ines" to "I" and prefill it that way.
A more elaborate example would be with month values. If the user agent knows that the user's birthday is the 27th of July 2012, then it might try to prefill all of the following controls with slightly different values, all driven from this information:
| 2012-07 |
The day is dropped since the Month state only accepts a
month/year combination. (Note that this example is non-conforming, because the autofill
field name bday is not allowed with the
Month state.)
|
| July | The user agent picks the month from the listed options, either by noticing there are twelve options and picking the 7th, or by recognizing that one of the strings (three characters "Jul" followed by a newline and a space) is a close match for the name of the month (July) in one of the user agent's supported languages, or through some other similar mechanism. |
| 7 | User agent converts "July" to a month number in the range 1..12, like the field. |
| 6 | User agent converts "July" to a month number in the range 0..11, like the field. |
| User agent doesn't fill in the field, since it can't make a good guess as to what the form expects. |
A user agent may allow the user to override an element's autofill field name, e.g.
to change it from "off" to "on" to allow values to be remembered and prefilled despite
the page author's objections, or to always "off",
never remembering values.
More specifically, user agents may in particular consider replacing the autofill field
name of form controls that match the description given in the first column of the following
table, when their autofill field name is either "on" or "off", with the value given in the second cell of that
row. If this table is used, the replacements must be done in tree order, since all
but the first row references the autofill field name of earlier elements. When the
descriptions below refer to form controls being preceded or followed by others, they mean in the
list of listed elements that share the same form
owner.
| Form control | New autofill field name |
|---|---|
an input element whose type attribute is in
the Text state that is followed by an
input element whose type attribute is in
the Password state
|
"username"
|
an input element whose type attribute is in
the Password state that is preceded by an
input element whose autofill field name is "username"
|
"current-password"
|
an input element whose type attribute is in
the Password state that is preceded by an
input element whose autofill field name is "current-password"
|
"new-password"
|
an input element whose type attribute is in
the Password state that is preceded by an
input element whose autofill field name is "new-password"
|
"new-password"
|
The autocomplete IDL attribute, on getting, must return the
element's IDL-exposed autofill value, and on setting, must reflect the
content attribute of the same name.
The input and textarea elements define several attributes and methods
for handling their selection. Their shared algorithms are defined here.
element.select()Selects everything in the text control.
element.selectionStart [ = value ]Returns the offset to the start of the selection.
Can be set, to change the start of the selection.
element.selectionEnd [ = value ]Returns the offset to the end of the selection.
Can be set, to change the end of the selection.
element.selectionDirection [ = value ]Returns the current direction of the selection.
Can be set, to change the direction of the selection.
The possible values are "forward", "backward",
and "none".
element.setSelectionRange(start, end [, direction])