Description

The HTML element <select> is used to define a selection list, which displays as a pull-down menu from which users can select one or more options.

Each option is defined using the <option> element.

The select element must contain at least one <option> element.

The below table summarizes its usage.

Usage Details
Placement It is displayed as an Inline element.
Contents It can contain one or more <option> elements.
Tags Both the opening and closing tags are required.
Versions HTML 2, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5

Syntax

Here is the basic syntax of the <select> element.

<select>...</select>

Examples

Run this on IDE

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>Example - HTML Element select</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form>
        <select>
            <option value="apple">Apple</option>
            <option value="banana">Banana</option>
            <option value="papaya">Papaya</option>
        </select>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Attributes

The following table shows the list of supported and unsupported attributes for the <select> element.

Attribute Type Details
Element-Specific Attributes The tag <select> has some element-specific attributes listed in the below table.
Global Attributes Like all other HTML tags, the tag <select> supports the HTML Global Attributes.
Event Attributes The tag <select> also supports the HTML Event Attributes.

Here is a list of attributes that are specific to the <select> element.

Attribute Value Required Description
autofocus  autofocus No Specifies that the drop-down list should automatically get focused when the document is loaded.
disabled disabled No This Boolean attribute indicates that the drop-down list is disabled i.e. the drop-down list is not selectable.
form  form-id No Specifies the form that the select element is associated with i.e. its "form owner".
multiple multiple No This Boolean attribute indicates that multiple options can be selected in the list.
name unique-name No Defines the name for the select element.
required  required No This Boolean attribute indicates that an option with a non-empty value must be selected before form submission.
size number No Specifies the number of options to show to the user.

Browser Compatibility

The tag <select> is supported in all modern browsers.

  • Google Chrome 1+
  • Internet Explorer or Edge 2+
  • Firefox 1+
  • Apple Safari 1+
  • Opera 4+

Related Links