The HTML Table Body Element (<tbody>) defines one or more {{ HTMLElement("tr") }} element data-rows to be the body of its parent {{ HTMLElement("table") }} element (as long as no <tr> elements are immediate children of that table element.) In conjunction with a preceding {{ HTMLElement("thead") }} and/or {{ HTMLElement("tfoot") }} element, <tbody> provides additional semantic information for devices such as printers and displays. Of the parent table's child elements, <tbody> represents the content which, when longer than a page, will most likely differ for each page printed; while the content of {{ HTMLElement("thead") }} and {{ HTMLElement("tfoot") }} will be the same or similar for each page printed. For displays, <tbody> will enable separate scrolling of the {{ HTMLElement("thead") }}, {{ HTMLElement("tfoot") }}, and {{ HTMLElement("caption") }} elements of the same parent {{ HTMLElement("table") }} element. Note that unlike the <thead>, <tfoot>, and <caption> elements however, multiple <tbody> elements are permitted (if consecutive), allowing the data-rows in long tables to be divided into different sections, each separately formatted as needed.
Usage context
| Content categories | None. |
| Permitted content | Zero or more {{ HTMLElement("tr") }} elements. |
| Tag omission | The {{ HTMLElement("tbody") }} element is not a required child element for a parent {{ HTMLElement("table") }} element to graphically render. However, it must not be present, if its parent {{ HTMLElement("table") }} element has a {{ HTMLElement("tr") }} element as a child. |
| Permitted parent elements | Within the required parent {{ HTMLElement("table") }} element, the {{ HTMLElement("tbody") }} element can be added after a {{ HTMLElement("caption") }}, {{HTMLElement("colgroup") }}, {{ HTMLElement("thead") }} and a {{ HTMLElement("tfoot") }} element. |
| Normative document | HTML5, section 4.9.5 (HTML4.01, section 11.2.3) |
Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
- {{ htmlattrdef("align") }} {{ Deprecated_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(4.01) }}, {{ obsolete_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(5) }}
- This enumerated attribute specifies how horizontal alignment of each cell content will be handled. Possible values are:
- left, aligning the content to the left of the cell
- center, centering the content in the cell
- right, aligning the content to the right of the cell
- justify, inserting spaces into the textual content so that the content is justified in the cell
- char, aligning the textual content on a special character with a minimal offset, defined by the {{ htmlattrxref("char", "tbody") }} and {{ htmlattrxref("charoff", "tbody") }} attributes.
If this attribute is not set, the left value is assumed.
Note: Do not use this attribute as it is obsolete (not supported) in the latest standard.- To achieve the same effect as the left, center, right or justify values, use the CSS {{ cssxref("text-align") }} property on it.
- To achieve the same effect as the char value, in CSS3, you can use the value of the {{ htmlattrxref("char", "tbody") }} as the value of the {{ cssxref("text-align") }} property {{ unimplemented_inline() }}.
- {{ htmlattrdef("bgcolor") }} {{ Non-standard_inline() }}
- This attribute defines the background color of each cell of the column. It is one of the 6-digit hexadecimal code as defined in sRGB, prefixed by a '#'. One of the sixteen predefined color strings may be used:
black = "#000000" green = "#008000" silver = "#C0C0C0" lime = "#00FF00" gray = "#808080" olive = "#808000" white = "#FFFFFF" yellow = "#FFFF00" maroon = "#800000" navy = "#000080" red = "#FF0000" blue = "#0000FF" purple = "#800080" teal = "#008080" fuchsia = "#FF00FF" aqua = "#00FFFF" Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it is non-standard and only implemented some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer: the {{ HTMLElement("tbody") }} element should be styled using CSS. To give a similar effect to the bgcolor attribute, use the CSS property {{ cssxref("background-color") }}, on the relevant {{ HTMLElement("td") }} or {{ HTMLElement("th") }} elements.
- {{ htmlattrdef("char") }} {{ Deprecated_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(4.01) }}, {{ obsolete_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(5) }}
- This attribute is used to set the character to align the cells in a column on. Typical values for this include a period (.) when attempting to align numbers or monetary values. If {{ htmlattrxref("align", "tbody") }} is not set to char, this attribute is ignored.
Note: Do not use this attribute as it is obsolete (and not supported) in the latest standard. To achieve the same effect as the {{ htmlattrxref("char", "tbody") }}, in CSS3, you can use the character set using the {{ htmlattrxref("char", "tbody") }} attribute as the value of the {{ cssxref("text-align") }} property {{ unimplemented_inline() }}.
- {{ htmlattrdef("charoff") }} {{ Deprecated_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(4.01) }}, {{ obsolete_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(5) }}
- This attribute is used to indicate the number of characters to offset the column data from the alignment characters specified by the char attribute.
Note: Do not use this attribute as it is obsolete (and not supported) in the latest standard.
- {{ htmlattrdef("valign") }} {{ Deprecated_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(4.01) }}, {{ obsolete_inline() }} in {{ HTMLVersionInline(5) }}
- This attribute specifies the vertical alignment of the text within each row of cells of the table header. Possible values for this attribute are:
- baseline, which will put the text as close to the bottom of the cell as it is possible, but align it on the baseline of the characters instead of the bottom of them. If characters are all of the size, this has the same effect as bottom.
- bottom, which will put the text as close to the bottom of the cell as it is possible;
- middle, which will center the text in the cell;
- and top, which will put the text as close to the top of the cell as it is possible.
Note: Do not use this attribute as it is obsolete (and not supported) in the latest standard: instead set the CSS {{ cssxref("vertical-align") }} property on it.
DOM interface
This element implements the HTMLTableSectionElement interface.
Examples
Please see the {{ HTMLElement("table") }} page for examples on <tbody>.
Browser compatibility
{{ CompatibilityTable() }}
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 1.0 | {{ CompatGeckoDesktop("1.0") }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} |
align/valign attribute |
1.0 | {{ CompatNo() }} [1] | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} |
char/charoff attribute |
1.0 | {{ CompatNo() }} [2] | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} |
bgcolor attribute {{ Non-standard_inline() }} |
{{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} |
| Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatGeckoMobile("1.0") }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} |
align/valign attribute |
{{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} [1] | {{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatUnknown() }} |
char/charoff attribute |
{{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} [2] | {{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatUnknown() }} | {{ CompatUnknown() }} |
bgcolor attribute {{ Non-standard_inline() }} |
{{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatVersionUnknown() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} | {{ CompatNo() }} |
[1] See {{bug(915)}}.
[2] See {{bug(2212)}}.
See also
- Other table-related HTML Elements: {{ HTMLElement("caption") }}, {{ HTMLElement("col") }}, {{ HTMLElement("colgroup") }}, {{ HTMLElement("table") }}, {{ HTMLElement("td") }}, {{ HTMLElement("tfoot") }}, {{ HTMLElement("th") }}, {{ HTMLElement("thead") }}, {{ HTMLElement("tr") }};
- CSS properties and pseudo-classes that may be specially useful to style the <tbody> element:
- the {{ cssxref(":nth-child") }} pseudo-class to set the alignment on the cells of the column;
- the {{ cssxref("text-align") }} property to align all cells content on the same character, like '.'.
{{HTMLRef}}