← 4.10.7.1 States of the type attributeTable of contents4.10.7.2 Common input element attributes →
          1. 4.10.7.1.13 Number state
          2. 4.10.7.1.14 Range state
          3. 4.10.7.1.15 Color state
          4. 4.10.7.1.16 Checkbox state
          5. 4.10.7.1.17 Radio Button state
          6. 4.10.7.1.18 File Upload state
          7. 4.10.7.1.19 Submit Button state
          8. 4.10.7.1.20 Image Button state
          9. 4.10.7.1.21 Reset Button state
          10. 4.10.7.1.22 Button state
4.10.7.1.13 Number state

The input element represents a control for setting the element's value to a string representing a number.

The value attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number.

The min attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number. The max attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number.

The default step is 1 (allowing only integers, unless the min attribute has a non-integer value).

The following common input element content attributes, IDL attributes, and methods apply to the element: autocomplete, list, max, min, readonly, required, and step content attributes; list, value, valueAsNumber, and selectedOption IDL attributes; stepDown() and stepUp() methods.

The value IDL attribute is in mode value.

The input and change events apply.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, maxlength, multiple, pattern, placeholder, size, src, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, selectionStart, selectionEnd, and valueAsDate IDL attributes; select() and setSelectionRange() methods.

4.10.7.1.14 Range state

The input element represents a control for setting the element's value to a string representing a number, but with the caveat that the exact value is not important, letting UAs provide a simpler interface than they do for the Number state.

The value attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number.

The min attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number. The default minimum is 0. The max attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid floating point number. The default maximum is 100.

The default value is the minimum plus half the difference between the minimum and the maximum, unless the maximum is less than the minimum, in which case the default value is the minimum.

The default step is 1 (allowing only integers, unless the min attribute has a non-integer value).

The following common input element content attributes, IDL attributes, and methods apply to the element: autocomplete, list, max, min, and step content attributes; list, value, valueAsNumber, and selectedOption IDL attributes; stepDown() and stepUp() methods.

The value IDL attribute is in mode value.

The input and change events apply.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, maxlength, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, src, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, selectionStart, selectionEnd, and valueAsDate IDL attributes; select() and setSelectionRange() methods.

Here is an example of a range control using an autocomplete list with the list attribute. This could be useful if there are values along the full range of the control that are especially important, such as preconfigured light levels or typical speed limits in a range control used as a speed control. The following markup fragment:

<input type="range" min="-100" max="100" value="0" step="10" name="power" list="powers">
<datalist id="powers">
 <option value="0">
 <option value="-30">
 <option value="30">
 <option value="+50">
</datalist>

...with the following style sheet applied:

input { height: 75px; width: 49px; background: #D5CCBB; color: black; }

...might render as:

A vertical slider control whose primary color is black and whose background color is beige, with the slider having five tick marks, one long one at each extremity, and three short ones clustered around the midpoint.

Note how the UA determined the orientation of the control from the ratio of the style-sheet-specified height and width properties. The colors were similiarly derived from the style sheet. The tick marks, however, were derived from the markup. In particular, the step attribute has not affected the placement of tick marks, the UA deciding to only use the author-specified completion values and then adding longer tick marks at the extremes.

Note also how the invalid value +50 was completely ignored.

For another example, consider the following markup fragment:

<input name=x type=range min=100 max=700 step=9.09090909 value=509.090909>

A user agent could display in a variety of ways, for instance:

As a dial.

Or, alternatively, for instance:

As a long horizontal slider with tick marks.

The user agent could pick which one to display based on the dimensions given in the style sheet. This would allow it to maintain the same resolution for the tick marks, despite the differences in width.

4.10.7.1.15 Color state

The input element represents a color well control, for setting the element's value to a string representing a simple color.

The value attribute, if specified, must have a value that is a valid simple color.

The following common input element content attributes, IDL attributes, and methods apply to the element: autocomplete and list content attributes; list, value, and selectedOption IDL attributes.

The value IDL attribute is in mode value.

The input and change events apply.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, maxlength, max, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

4.10.7.1.16 Checkbox state

The input element represents a two-state control that represents the element's checkedness state. If the element's checkedness state is true, the control represents a positive selection, and if it is false, a negative selection. If the element's indeterminate IDL attribute is set to true, then the control's selection should be obscured as if the control was in a third, indeterminate, state.

The control is never a true tri-state control, even if the element's indeterminate IDL attribute is set to true. The indeterminate IDL attribute only gives the appearance of a third state.

input . indeterminate [ = value ]

When set, overrides the rendering of checkbox controls so that the current value is not visible.

The following common input element content attributes and IDL attributes apply to the element: checked, and required content attributes; checked and value IDL attributes.

The value IDL attribute is in mode default/on.

The change event applies.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, autocomplete, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input event does not apply.

4.10.7.1.17 Radio Button state

The input element represents a control that, when used in conjunction with other input elements, forms a radio button group in which only one control can have its checkedness state set to true. If the element's checkedness state is true, the control represents the selected control in the group, and if it is false, it indicates a control in the group that is not selected.

The radio button group that contains an input element a also contains all the other input elements b that fulfill all of the following conditions:

A document must not contain an input element whose radio button group contains only that element.

If none of the radio buttons in a radio button group are checked when they are inserted into the document, then they will all be initially unchecked in the interface, until such time as one of them is checked (either by the user or by script).

The following common input element content attributes and IDL attributes apply to the element: checked and required content attributes; checked and value IDL attributes.

The value IDL attribute is in mode default/on.

The change event applies.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, autocomplete, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input event does not apply.

4.10.7.1.18 File Upload state

The input element represents a list of selected files, each file consisting of a file name, a file type, and a file body (the contents of the file).


The accept attribute may be specified to provide user agents with a hint of what file types will be accepted.

If specified, the attribute must consist of a set of comma-separated tokens, each of which must be an ASCII case-insensitive match for one of the following:

The string audio/*
Indicates that sound files are accepted.
The string video/*
Indicates that video files are accepted.
The string image/*
Indicates that image files are accepted.
A valid MIME type with no parameters
Indicates that files of the specified type are accepted.

The tokens must not be ASCII case-insensitive matches for any of the other tokens (i.e. duplicates are not allowed).

User agents may use the value of this attribute to display appropriate a more appropriate user interface than a generic file picker. For instance, given the value image/*, a user agent could offer the user the option of using a local camera or selecting a photograph from their photo collection; given the value audio/*, a user agent could offer the user the option of recording a clip using a headset microphone.

For historical reasons, the value IDL attribute prefixes the filename with the string "C:\fakepath\". Some legacy user agents actually included the full path (which was a security vulnerability). As a result of this, obtaining the filename from the value IDL attribute in a backwards-compatible way is non-trivial. The following function extracts the filename in a suitably compatible manner:

function extractFilename(path) {
  var x;
  x = path.lastIndexOf('\\');
  if (x >= 0) // Windows-based path
    return path.substr(x+1);
  x = path.lastIndexOf('/');
  if (x >= 0) // Unix-based path
    return path.substr(x+1);
  return path; // just the filename
}

This can be used as follows:

<p><input type=file name=image onchange="updateFilename(this.value)"></p>
<p>The name of the file you picked is: <span id="filename">(none)</span></p>
<script>
 function updateFilename(path) {
   var name = extractFilename(path);
   document.getElementById('filename').textContent = name;
 }
</script>

The following common input element content attributes apply to the element:

The following common input element content attributes and IDL attributes apply to the element: accept, multiple, and required; files and value IDL attributes.

The value IDL attribute is in mode filename.

The change event applies.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: alt, autocomplete, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, list, max, maxlength, min, pattern, placeholder, readonly, size, src, step, and width.

The element's value attribute must be omitted.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input event does not apply.

4.10.7.1.19 Submit Button state

The input element represents a button that, when activated, submits the form. The element is a button, specifically a submit button.

The formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, and formtarget attributes are attributes for form submission.

The formnovalidate attribute can be used to make submit buttons that do not trigger the constraint validation.

The following common input element content attributes and IDL attributes apply to the element: formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, and formtarget content attributes; value IDL attribute.

The value IDL attribute is in mode default.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, autocomplete, checked, dirname, height, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input and change events do not apply.

4.10.7.1.20 Image Button state

The input element represents either an image from which a user can select a coordinate and submit the form, or alternatively a button from which the user can submit the form. The element is a button, specifically a submit button.


The image is given by the src attribute. The src attribute must be present, and must contain a valid non-empty URL potentially surrounded by spaces referencing a non-interactive, optionally animated, image resource that is neither paged nor scripted.

The alt attribute provides the textual label for the alternative button for users and user agents who cannot use the image. The alt attribute must also be present, and must contain a non-empty string.

The input element supports dimension attributes.

The formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, and formtarget attributes are attributes for form submission.

The following common input element content attributes and IDL attributes apply to the element: alt, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, src, and width content attributes; value IDL attribute.

The value IDL attribute is in mode default.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, autocomplete, checked, dirname, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, and step.

The element's value attribute must be omitted.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input and change events do not apply.

Many aspects of this state's behavior are similar to the behavior of the img element. Readers are encouraged to read that section, where many of the same requirements are described in more detail.

4.10.7.1.21 Reset Button state

The input element represents a button that, when activated, resets the form. The element is a button.

The value IDL attribute applies to this element and is in mode default.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, autocomplete, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input and change events do not apply.

4.10.7.1.22 Button state

The input element represents a button with no default behavior. A label for the button must be provided in the value attribute, though it may be the empty string. The element is a button.

The value IDL attribute applies to this element and is in mode default.

The following content attributes must not be specified and do not apply to the element: accept, alt, autocomplete, checked, dirname, formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget, height, list, max, maxlength, min, multiple, pattern, placeholder, readonly, required, size, src, step, and width.

The following IDL attributes and methods do not apply to the element: checked, files, list, selectedOption, selectionStart, selectionEnd, valueAsDate, and valueAsNumber IDL attributes; select(), setSelectionRange(), stepDown(), and stepUp() methods.

The input and change events do not apply.