Empty element

An empty element is an element from HTML, SVG, or MathML that cannot have any child nodes (i.e., nested elements or text nodes).

The HTML, and SVG, and MathML specifications define very precisely what each element can contain. Many combinations have no semantic meaning, for example an <audio> element nested inside an <hr> element.

In HTML, using a closing tag on an empty element is usually invalid. For example, <input type="text"></input> is invalid HTML.

The empty elements in HTML are as follows:

• <area>
• <base>
• <br>
• <col>
• <colgroup> when the span is present
• <command>
• <embed>
• <hr>
• <img>
• <input>
• <keygen>
• <link>
• <meta>
• <param>
• <source>
• <track>
• <wbr>