The HTML <code> element displays its contents styled in a fashion intended to indicate that the text is a short fragment of computer code. By default, the content text is displayed using the user agent's default monospace font.
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| Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Phrasing content. |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts phrasing content. |
| Permitted ARIA roles | Any |
| DOM interface | HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element. |
Attributes
This element only includes the global attributes.
Example
A paragraph of text that includes <code>:
<p>The function <code>selectAll()</code> highlights all the text in the input field so the user can, for example, copy or delete the text.</p>
The output generated by this HTML looks like this:
Notes
To represent multiple lines of code, wrap the <code> element within a <pre> element. The <code> element by itself only represents a single phrase of code or line of code.
A CSS rule can be defined for the code selector to override the browser's default font face. Preferences set by the user might take precedence over the specified CSS.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<code>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<code>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<code>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
code | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support