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HTML a href Attribute


HTML a Tag Reference HTML <a> tag

Example

The href attribute specifies the link's destination:

<a href="http://www.w3schools.com">Visit W3Schools</a>

Try it yourself!


Definition and Usage

The href attribute specifies the URL (web resource) to be loaded when the link is clicked.

The href or the name attribute must be present in the <a> tag.

Syntax

<a href="URL">

Syntax Example

<a href="http://www.w3schools.com">

Attribute Values

Value Description
URL The web resource/address to load when the link is clicked.

Possible URL values:

  • An absolute URL - Is used to navigate to another web site (like href="www.example.com")
  • A relative URL - Is used to navigate within a site (like href="example.html")
  • An anchor URL - Is used to navigate within a single page (like href="#bottom")


Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The href attribute is supported in all major browsers.


What is an URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is used to address a document (or other data) on the World Wide Web.

A full Web address like this: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp follows these syntax rules:

scheme://host.domain:port/path/filename

The scheme is defining the type of Internet service. The most common type is http.

The domain is defining the Internet domain name like w3schools.com.

The host is defining the domain host. If omitted, the default host for http is www.

The :port is defining the port number at the host. The port number is normally omitted. The default port number for http is 80

The path is defining a path (a sub directory) at the server. If the path is omitted, the resource (the document) must be located at the root directory of the Web site.

The filename is defining the name of a document. The default filename might be default.asp, or index.html or something else depending on the settings of the Web server.


Tips and Notes

Tip: All URLs should be URL encoded when required.


HTML a Tag Reference HTML <a> tag