Revision 738121 of <option>

<h2 id="Summary">Summary</h2>

<p>In a Web form, the <strong>HTML<em> </em><code>&lt;option&gt;</code><em> </em>element</strong> is used to create a control representing an item within a {{HTMLElement("select")}}, an {{HTMLElement("optgroup")}} or a {{HTMLElement("datalist")}} HTML5 element.</p>

<ul class="htmlelt">
 <li><dfn><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories" title="HTML/Content_categories">Content categories</a></dfn> None.</li>
 <li><dfn>Permitted content</dfn> Text with eventually escaped characters (like <code>&amp;eacute;</code>).</li>
 <li><dfn>Tag omission</dfn> The <span title="syntax-start-tag">start tag</span> is mandatory. The <span title="syntax-end-tag">end tag</span> is optional if this element is immediately followed by another <code>&lt;option&gt;</code> element or an {{HTMLElement("optgroup")}}, or if the parent element has no more content.</li>
 <li><dfn>Permitted parent elements</dfn> A {{HTMLElement("select")}}, an {{HTMLElement("optgroup")}} or a {{HTMLElement("datalist")}} element.</li>
 <li><dfn>DOM interface</dfn> {{domxref("HTMLOptionElement")}}</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="Attributes">Attributes</h2>

<p><span style="line-height: 21px;">This element includes the&nbsp;</span><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes" style="line-height: 21px;" title="HTML/Global attributes">global attributes</a><span style="line-height: 21px;">.</span></p>

<dl>
 <dt>{{htmlattrdef("disabled")}}</dt>
 <dd>If this Boolean attribute is set, this option is not checkable. Often browsers grey out such control and it won't receive any browsing event, like mouse clicks or focus-related ones. If this attribute is not set, the element can still be disabled if one its ancestors is a disabled {{HTMLElement("optgroup")}} element.</dd>
 <dt>{{htmlattrdef("label")}}</dt>
 <dd>This attribute is text for the label indicating the meaning of the option. If the <code><strong>label</strong></code> attribute isn't defined, its value is that of the element text content.
 <div class="note"><em>Usage note: </em>the <code><strong>label</strong></code> attribute is designed to contain a short label typically used in a hierarchical menu. The <strong><code>value</code></strong> attribute describes a longer label designed to be used near a radio button, for example.</div>
 </dd>
 <dt>{{htmlattrdef("selected")}}</dt>
 <dd>If present, this Boolean attribute indicates that the option is initially selected. If the <code>&lt;option&gt;</code> element is the descendant of a{{HTMLElement("select")}} element whose {{htmlattrxref("multiple", "select")}} attribute is not set, only one single <code>&lt;option&gt;</code> of this {{HTMLElement("select")}} element may have the <strong>selected</strong> attribute.</dd>
 <dt>{{htmlattrdef("value")}}</dt>
 <dd>The content of this attribute represents the value to be submitted with the form, should this option be selected.&nbsp;If this attribute is omitted, the value is taken from the text content of the option element.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2>

<p>See {{HTMLElement("select")}} examples.</p>

<h2 id="Specifications" name="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', 'the-button-element.html#the-option-element', '&lt;option&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5 W3C', 'forms.html#the-option-element', '&lt;option&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML4.01', 'interact/forms.html#h-17.6', '&lt;option&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML4.01')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility" name="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>

<p>{{CompatibilityTable}}</p>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari (WebKit)</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoMobile("1.0")}} [1]</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>IE Phone</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoMobile("1.0")}} [1]</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h3 id="Gecko_notes">Gecko notes</h3>

<p>[1] Prior to Gecko 7.0, {{geckoRelease("7.0")}}, the label attribute incorrectly returned an empty string if not defined, instead of returning the element text content.</p>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li>Other form-related elements: {{HTMLElement("form")}}, {{HTMLElement("legend")}}, {{HTMLElement("label")}}, {{HTMLElement("button")}}, {{HTMLElement("select")}}, {{HTMLElement("datalist")}}, {{HTMLElement("optgroup")}}, {{HTMLElement("fieldset")}}, {{HTMLElement("textarea")}}, {{HTMLElement("keygen")}}, {{HTMLElement("input")}}, {{HTMLElement("output")}}, {{HTMLElement("progress")}} and {{HTMLElement("meter")}}.</li>
</ul>

<p>{{HTMLRef}}</p>