<pre>

The <pre> element represents a block of preformatted text.

Point

• Some examples of cases:
  • e-mail
  • computer code
  • ASCII art...

• This element is used with the code element, the samp element, or the kbd element, and so on, according to the kind of content inside a pre element. [Example B]

• The author should consider accessibility, when use the pre element. This is because, when speech synthesizers, braille displays, and the like is used, there is a possibility that preformatted text is destroyed. For exapmle, For cases like ASCII art, it is likely that an alternative presentation, such as a textual description, would be more universally accessible to the readers of the document.

HTML Attributes

See global attributes.

Examples

Example A

[try it]

<pre>
Line 1.
           Line 2 is to the right of line 1.
           Line 3 aligns with line 2.
</pre>

Example B

With the code element [try it]:

<pre>
  <code>
  function Panel(element, canClose, closeHandler) {
    this.element = element;
    this.canClose = canClose;
    this.closeHandler = function () { if (closeHandler) closeHandler() };
  }
  </code>
</pre>

HTML Reference

The HTML5 specification defines the <pre> element in 4.5.3 The pre element.