<table>

The HTML Table Element (<table>) represents tabular data: information expressed via two dimensions or more.

Usage context

Attributes

This element includes the global attributes. The remainder of the attributes listed on this page may be deprecated.

align

This enumerated attribute indicates how the table must be aligned in regard of the containing document. It may have the following values:

• left, meaning that the table is to be displayed to the left of the document;
• center, meaning that the table is to be displayed centered in the document;
• right, meaning that the table is to be displayed to the right of the document.

Note

• Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the align attribute, the CSS layout should be used, like margin-left and margin-right set to auto ( or margin to 0 auto) to center it.
• Prior to Firefox 4, Firefox also supported, in quirks mode only, the values middle, absmiddle, and abscenter as synonyms of center.

bgcolor

This attribute defines the background color of the table and its content. It is one of the 6-digit hexadecimal code as defined in sRGB, prefixed by a '#'. One of the sixteen predefined color strings may be used:

	black = "#000000"		green = "#008000"
	silver = "#C0C0C0"		lime = "#00FF00"
	gray = "#808080"		olive = "#808000"
	white = "#FFFFFF"		yellow = "#FFFF00"
	maroon = "#800000"		navy = "#000080"
	red = "#FF0000"		blue = "#0000FF"
	purple = "#800080"		teal = "#008080"
	fuchsia = "#FF00FF"		aqua = "#00FFFF"

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the bgcolor attribute, the CSS property background-color should be used.

border

This integer attribute defines, in pixels, the size of the frame surrounding the table. If set to 0, it implies that the frame attribute is set to void.

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the border attribute, the CSS properties border, border-color, border-width and border-style should be used.

cellpadding

This attribute defines the space between the content of a cell and the border, displayed or not, of it. If it is a pixel length, this pixel-sized space will be applied on all four sides; if it is a percentage length, the content will be centered and the total vertical space (top and bottom) will represent this percentage. The same is true for the total horizontal space (left and right).

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the cellpadding attribute, use the CSS property border-collapse with the value collapse on the <table> element itself, and the property padding on the <td>.

cellspacing

This attribute defines the size, in percentage or in pixels, of the space between two cells (both horizontally and vertically), between the top of the table and the cells of the first row, the left of the table and the first column, the right of the table and the last column and the bottom of the table and the last row.

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the cellspacing attribute, use the CSS property border-spacing on the <table> element itself.

frame

This enumerated attribute defines which side of the frame surrounding the table must be displayed. It may have the following values:

	above		below
	hsides		vsides
	lhs		rhs
	border		box
	void

Usage note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the <table> element should be styled using CSS. To give an effect similar to the frame attribute, use the CSS properties border-style and border-width.

rules

This enumerated attribute defines where rules, i.e. lines, should appear in a table. It can have the following values:

• none, which indicates the no rules will be displayed; it is the default value;
• groups, which will make the rules to be displayed between row groups (defined by the <thead>, <tbody> and <tfoot> elements) and between column groups (defined by the <col> and <colgroup> elements) only;
• rows, which will make the rules to be displayed between rows;
• columns, which will make the rules to be displayed between columns;
• all, which wil make the rules to be displayed between rows and columns.

Note:

• The styling of the rules is browser-dependant and cannot be modified.
• Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the rules should be defined and styled using CSS. Use the CSS property border on the adequate <thead>, <tbody>, <tfoot>, <col> or <colgroup> elements.

summary

This attribute defines an alternative text use to describe the table in user-agent unable to display it. Typically, it contents a description of it to allow visually impaired people, like blind people browsing the web using Braille screen, to get the information in it. If the information added in this attribute may also be useful for non-visually impaired people, consider using the <caption> instead. The summary attribute is not mandatory and may be omitted when a <caption> element fulfills its role.

Usage Note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated. Instead, use one of these way of describing a table:

• In prose, surrounding the table (this is the less semantic-conveying way of doing it).
• In the table's <caption> element.
• In a <details> element, inside the table's <caption> element.
• Include the <table> element in a <figure> element and add the description in prose next to it.
• Include the <table> element in a <figure> element and add the description in prose inside a <figcaption> element.
• Adjust the table so that such description is no more needed, by using <th> and <thead> elements for example.

width

This attribute defines the width of the table. It may either be a pixel length or a percentage value, representing the percentage of the width of its container that the table should use.

Usage Note: Do not use this attribute, as it has been deprecated and the rules should be defined and styled using CSS. Use the CSS property width instead.

DOM interface

This element implements the HTMLTableElement interface.

Examples

Simple Table

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>John</td>
    <td>Doe</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Jane</td>
    <td>Doe</td>
  </tr>
</table>

More Examples

<p>Simple table with header</p>
<table>
  <tr>
    <th>First name</th>
    <th>Last name</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>John</td>
    <td>Doe</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Jane</td>
    <td>Doe</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<p>Table with thead, tfoot, and tbody</p>
<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Header content 1</th>
      <th>Header content 2</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tfoot>
    <tr>
      <td>Footer content 1</td>
      <td>Footer content 2</td>
    </tr>
  </tfoot>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Body content 1</td>
      <td>Body content 2</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<p>Table with colgroup</p>
<table>
  <colgroup span="4"></colgroup>
  <tr>
    <th>Countries</th>
    <th>Capitals</th>
    <th>Population</th>
    <th>Language</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>USA</td>
    <td>Washington D.C.</td>
    <td>309 million</td>
    <td>English</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Sweden</td>
    <td>Stockholm</td>
    <td>9 million</td>
    <td>Swedish</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<p>Table with colgroup and col</p>
<table>
  <colgroup>
    <col style="background-color: #0f0">
    <col span="2">
  </colgroup>
  <tr>
    <th>Lime</th>
    <th>Lemon</th>
    <th>Orange</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Green</td>
    <td>Yellow</td>
    <td>Orange</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<p>Simple table with caption</p>
<table>
  <caption>Awesome caption</caption>
  <tr>
    <td>Awesome data</td>
  </tr>
</table>

table
{
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0px;
}
table, th, td
{
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid black;
}

Browser compatibility

[1] There is an Internet Explorer 9 rendering bug involving <table> and :hover; see the "Browser compatibility" section of the :hover article for details.

See also

• Other table-related HTML Elements: <caption>, <col>, <colgroup>, <tbody>, <td>, <tfoot>, <th>, <thead>, <tr>;
• CSS properties that may be specially useful to style the <table> element:
  • width to control the width of the table;
  • border, border-style, border-color, border-width, border-collapse, border-spacing to control the aspect of cell borders, rules and frame;
  • margin and padding to style the individual cell content;
  • text-align and vertical-align to define alignment of text and cell content.