Anchor

<a> (Anchor)

This element defines a hyperlink, the named target destination for a hyperlink, or both.

Standard Syntax

<a
 accesskey="key"
 charset="character code for language of linked
 resource"
 class="class name(s)"
 coords="comma-separated list of numbers"
 dir="ltr | rtl"
 href="URL"
 hreflang="language code"
 id="unique alphanumeric identifier"
 lang="language code"
 name="name of target location"
 rel="comma-separated list of relationship values"
 rev="comma-separated list of relationship values"
 shape="default | circle | poly | rect"
 style="style information"
 tabindex="number"
 target="frame or window name | _blank | _parent | _self | _top"
 title="advisory text"
 type="content type of linked data">
</a>

Attributes Introduced by HTML5

 contenteditable="true | false | inherit"
 contextmenu="id of menu "
 data-X="user-defined data"
 draggable="true | false | auto"
 hidden="hidden"
 hreflang="language code"
 itemid="microdata id in URL format"
 itemprop="microdata value"
 itemref="space-separated list of IDs that may contain microdata"
 itemscope="itemscope"
 itemtype="microdata type in URL format"
 media="media-type"
 ping="URL list"
 rel="comma-separated list of relationship values"
 spellcheck="true | false"
 tabindex="number"
 type="MIME type of linked data"

Examples

<!-- anchor linking to external file -->
<a href="http://www.democompany.com/">External Link</a>
<!-- anchor linking to file on local file system -->
<a href="file:/c:\html\index.html">local file link</a>
<!-- anchor invoking anonymous FTP -->
<a href="ftp://ftp.democompany.com/freestuff">Anonymous FTP
link</a>
<!-- anchor invoking FTP with password -->
<a href="ftp://joeuser:secretpassword@democompany.com/path/file">
FTP with password</a>
<!-- anchor invoking mail -->
<a href="mailto:fakeid@democompany.com">Send mail</a>
<!-- anchor used to define target destination within document -->
<a name="jump">Jump target</a>
<!-- anchor linking internally to previous target anchor -->
<a href="#jump">Local jump within document</a>
<!-- anchor linking externally to previous target anchor -->
<a href="http://www.democompany.com/document#jump">
Remote jump to a position within a document</a>

Compatibility

Standards	Browser
HTML 2, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5	Firefox 1+, Internet Explorer 2+,
XHTML 1.0, 1.1, Basic	Netscape 1+, Opera 4+, Safari 1+

Notes

• If you use the accesskey attribute with this element page, be wary of reserved bindings. See the section “accesskey” under “Other Common Attributes Reference” earlier in the chapter for a full discussion of this concern.
• The target attribute is not defined in browsers that do not support frames, such as Netscape 1–generation browsers. Furthermore, target is not allowed under strict variants of XHTML but instead is limited to frameset or transitional form. This attribute, however, does regain its functionality under HTML5.
• See Appendix D for a complete discussion of the URL syntax, which is used as the value of the src attribute.