HTML <textarea> Tag

Description

The <textarea> HTML element is a form element for creating an area into which multiple lines of text can be entered. In contrast to the <input> element, it is permissible to do line breaks in the text field; they are preserved when sending data to the server.
Between the <textarea> and </textarea> tags you can put any text that will be displayed inside the field.

Properties

Permitted Parents: Any element that accepts phrasing content
Content: Text
Start/End Tags: Start tag: required, End tag: required

Example

HTML

<textarea cols="40">

You can write whatever text you want in the textarea.

</textarea>

Result

Attributes

Attribute	Definition
autofocus	Specifies that a text area should automatically get focus when the page loads
cols	Specifies the width of the textarea based on the number of visible character widths.
dirname	Specifies that the text direction of the textarea will be submitted
disabled	Disables the input control. The button won't accept changes from the user. It also cannot receive focus and will be skipped when tabbing.
form	Specifies one or more forms the text area belongs to
maxlength	Specifies the maximum number of characters allowed in the text area
name	Assigns a name to the input control.
placeholder	Specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of a text area
readonly	Sets the textarea to read-only - it won't allow the user to change the value. The textarea however, can receive focus and is included when tabbing through the form controls.
required	Specifies that a text area is required/must be filled out
rows	Specifies the height of the textarea based on the number of visible lines of text. If there's more text than this allows, users can scroll using the textarea's scrollbars.
wrap	Specifies how the text in a text area is to be wrapped when submitted in a form