<option>: The HTML Option element #

::: section-content The <option> HTML element is used to define an item contained in a <select>, an <optgroup>, or a <datalist> element. As such, <option> can represent menu items in popups and other lists of items in an HTML document. :::

Try it #

::: section-content ::: iframe ::: {.output-header .border-rounded-top}

HTML Demo: <option> #

Reset :::

::: {#warning-no-script .warning-container} ::: warning The interactive example cannot be shown because JavaScript is disabled. ::: :::

::: {#warning-mathml-not-supported .warning-container .hidden} ::: warning The interactive example cannot be shown because MathML is not supported by your browser. ::: :::

::: {#editor-container .editor-container .tabbed-standard .hidden .border-rounded-bottom editor-type=“tabbed”} ::: {#tab-container .section .tabs} ::: {#tablist .tab-list role=“tablist”} HTML

CSS

JavaScript :::

::: {#html-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“html” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#html-editor} Choose a pet:

<select id="pet-select">
  <option value="">--Please choose an option--</option>
  <option value="dog">Dog</option>
  <option value="cat">Cat</option>
  <option value="hamster">Hamster</option>
  <option value="parrot">Parrot</option>
  <option value="spider">Spider</option>
  <option value="goldfish">Goldfish</option>
</select>

::: :::

::: {#css-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“css” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#css-editor} label { font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; padding-right: 10px; }

select {
  font-size: 0.9rem;
  padding: 2px 5px;
}

::: :::

::: {#js-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“js” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#js-editor} ::: ::: :::

::: {#output .output-container}

Output #

::: :::

::: {.section .console-container .hidden aria-hidden=“true”}

Console Output #

![] clear console

::: {#console .console} ::: :::

::: {#html-output .output .editor-tabbed} %html-content% ::: ::: :::

Attributes #

::: section-content This element includes the global attributes.

disabled: 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 of its ancestors is a disabled <optgroup> element.
label: This attribute is text for the label indicating the meaning of the option. If the label attribute isn't defined, its value is that of the element text content.
selected: If present, this Boolean attribute indicates that the option is initially selected. If the <option> element is the descendant of a <select> element whose multiple attribute is not set, only one single <option> of this <select> element may have the selected attribute.
value: The content of this attribute represents the value to be submitted with the form, should this option be selected. If this attribute is omitted, the value is taken from the text content of the option element. :::

Styling with CSS #

::: section-content Styling the <option> element is highly limited. Options don't inherit the font set on the parent. In Firefox, only color and background-color can be set, however in Chrome and Safari it's not possible to set any properties. You can find more details about styling in our guide to advanced form styling. :::

Examples #

::: section-content See <select> for examples. :::

Technical summary #

::: section-content

Content categories	None.
Permitted content	Text, possibly with escaped characters (like `é`).
Tag omission	The start tag is mandatory. The end tag is optional if this element is immediately followed by another `<option>` element or an `<optgroup>`, or if the parent element has no more content.
Permitted parents	A `<select>`, an `<optgroup>` or a `<datalist>` element.
Implicit ARIA role	`option`
Permitted ARIA roles	No `role` permitted
DOM interface	`HTMLOptionElement`

:::

Specifications #

::: _table #

Specification #

HTML Standard
[# the-option-element]{.small}

:::

Browser compatibility #

::: _table #

           Desktop                                                                                                       Mobile

           Chrome    Edge   Firefox                                                          Internet   Opera   Safari   WebView   Chrome    Firefox for Android                Opera     Safari   Samsung
                                                                                             Explorer                    Android   Android                                      Android   on IOS   Internet

option 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0

disabled 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0

label 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0

                            \[\"Before 77, Firefox didn\'t display the value of the `label`                                                  Before 77, Firefox didn\'t display                    
                            attribute as option text if element\'s content was empty. See                                                    the value of the `label` attribute                    
                            [bug 40545](https://bugzil.la/40545).\", \"Historically, Firefox                                                 as option text if element\'s                          
                            has allowed keyboard and mouse events to bubble up from the                                                      content was empty. See [bug                           
                            `<option>` element to the parent `<select>` element, although                                                    40545](https://bugzil.la/40545).                      
                            this behavior is inconsistent across many browsers. For better                                                                                                         
                            Web compatibility (and for technical reasons), they will not                                                                                                           
                            bubble up when Firefox is in multi-process mode and the                                                                                                                
                            `<select>` element is displayed as a drop-down list. The                                                                                                               
                            behavior is unchanged if the `<select>` is presented inline and                                                                                                        
                            it has either the `multiple` attribute defined or a `size`                                                                                                             
                            attribute set to more than `1`. Rather than watching `<option>`                                                                                                        
                            elements for events, you should watch for                                                                                                                              
                            [change](https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/Events/change)                                                                                                         
                            events on `<select>`. See [bug                                                                                                                                         
                            1090602](https://bugzil.la/1090602) for details.\", \"When                                                                                                             
                            Mozilla introduced dedicated content threads to Firefox (through                                                                                                       
                            the Electrolysis, or e10s, project), support for styling                                                                                                               
                            `<option>` elements was removed temporarily. Starting in Firefox                                                                                                       
                            54, you can apply foreground and background colors to `<option>`                                                                                                       
                            elements again, using the `color` and `background-color` CSS                                                                                                           
                            properties. See [bug 910022](https://bugzil.la/910022) for more                                                                                                        
                            information. Note that this is still disabled in Linux due to                                                                                                          
                            lack of contrast (see [bug 1338283](https://bugzil.la/1338283)                                                                                                         
                            for progress on this).\"\]

selected 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0

`value` 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0 #

:::

<option>: The HTML Option element #

Try it #

HTML Demo: <option> #

Output #

Console Output #

Attributes #

Styling with CSS #

Examples #

Technical summary #

Specifications #

::: _table #

Specification #

Browser compatibility #

::: _table #

value 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0 #

See also #

`value` 1 12 1 Yes 15 ≤4 4.4 18 4 14 ≤3.2 1.0 #