HTML Textarea Tag
In HTML, to create a multi-line plain editing control <textarea> tag is used.
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The <textarea> tag is useful when you want to allow users to enter a sizeable amount of free-form text, for example, a comment on a review or feedback form.
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The <textarea> tag also accepts several attributes common to form <input>s, such as autocomplete, autofocus, disabled, placeholder, readonly, and required.
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Also, this is an Inline element.
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To specify the size of textarea; we use cols and rows attributes of <textarea> tag.
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It is recommended to give labels using <label> tag to a textarea.
HTML<textarea> Tag Syntax and Usage
The <textarea> element requires the start(opening) tag and end(closing) tag.
Following is the syntax for using the textarea tag in your HTML code:
<textarea>
...content here
</textarea>
HTML <textarea> Tag Attributes
The <textarea> tag supports both global and event attributes and some of the common attributes are given below.
| Attributes |
Description |
| name |
Inside <textarea> area tag, the name attribute is used to specify the name of the control. |
| minlength |
The minimum number of characters (Unicode code points) required that the user should enter. |
| maxlength |
The Maximum number of characters (Unicode code points) required that the user should enter. |
| cols |
This attribute is used to specify the width of the textarea. |
| rows |
This attribute is used to specify the number of visible lines in a textarea |
| wrap |
This attribute indicates how the control wraps text. Possible values are: hard, soft and off |
| spellcheck |
Specifies whether the textarea is subject to spell checking by the underlying browser/OS; true, false and default are three values of spellcheck attribute |
| required |
This attribute ensures that it is a required filled or this field must be filled |
| readonly |
This attribute specifies that a given textarea is a read-only type |
| autofocus |
This attribute specifies textarea gets focus automatically whenever the web page gets loaded. |
| form |
This attribute specifies the form to which textarea belongs to |
HTML <textarea> Tag Basic Example
Below we have a basic example showing how we use the HTML textarea tag.
Browser Support for HTML<textarea> Tag
Following browsers support this attribute:
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Google Chrome 6.0+
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Internet Explorer 9.0+
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Firefox 4+
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Opera 11.1+
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Safari 5.0+
