The <code> tag displays a small fragment of computer code.
By default, the text is rendered in the browser‘s standard monospace font.
This <code> tag marks alert() as computer code.
In JavaScript the alert() method displays an alert box.
<p>In JavaScript the <code>alert()</code> method displays an alert box.</p>
The <code> tag displays text as computer code.
The text inside displays as pre-formatted text, typically a fixed-width font.
CSS can be used to override the default font and styling of the <code> element.
The <code> element has no attributes, but it does accept global attributes.
The following are commonly used.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | value | Provides the code element with a unique identifier. |
| class | classnames | Assigns one or more classnames to the code element. |
| style | CSS-values | Assigns CSS style values to the code element. |
For additional global attributes see our global attributes list.
Phrase tags highlight the meaning of a small piece of text (i.e. a phrase).
The <code> tag is one of them, but there several others.
A list of all HTML Phrase tags.
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <em> | Indicates emphasized text |
| <strong> | Indicates important text |
| <code> | Indicates computer code |
| <samp> | Indicates sample output from a computer program |
| <kbd> | Indicates keyboard input |
| <var> | Indicates a variable |
HTML tags cannot appear as plain text in the <code> element.
The browser will interpret these as valid HTML before the page is rendered.
To display HTML code, replace <, >, &, and others with HTML entities.
For example, replace < with <, > with >, and & with &.
The <code> tag is part of a group of tags
that create coding (programming) related features on web pages.
This group is referred to as the Code tag group.
Together, they allow you to create code-friendly pages.
A list of code tags.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| <pre> | Displays pre-formatted text in fixed-width font -- usually computer code |
| <code> | An element that is used to display computer code |
| <samp> | Displays sample output from a coumputer code |
| <output> | Displays output results of a calculation |
| <var> | Defines its content as a variable |
| <!--...--> | Marks text as comments in the source code. Not visible to users |
Here is when <code> support started for each browser:
 Chrome
|
1.0 | Sep 2008 |
 Firefox
|
1.0 | Sep 2002 |
 IE/Edge
|
1.0 | Aug 1995 |
 Opera
|
1.0 | Jan 2006 |
 Safari
|
1.0 | Jan 2003 |
