Design Converter
Flutter
React
Shopify
Flutter
React
Shopify
Discord
Discord
Education
Developer Advocate
Last updated on Sep 4, 2024
Last updated on Jul 30, 2024
Have you ever wondered how to maintain the original formatting of your text or code when displaying it on a webpage?
The <pre> element is your HTML savior. This tag preserves whitespace, line breaks, and tabs, ensuring that your content appears exactly as intended. Whether you're showcasing code snippets, or presenting formatted data, the <pre> element is your go-to for maintaining precise text formatting.
Let's dive in deep!
The HTML pre tag is a powerful tool for web developers, designed to display preformatted text within an HTML document. This tag ensures that whitespace inside, including spaces, line breaks, and tabs, is preserved, making it perfect for displaying code snippets, computer code, and sample output exactly as written in the HTML code.
The tag description of the HTML pre element highlights its utility in maintaining the integrity of preformatted text, ensuring that both spaces and other formatting characters are displayed as intended, without the HTML parser altering their appearance.
The pre tag is denoted by <pre> and is a fundamental element in HTML for showcasing preformatted text. It's especially useful for displaying computer programs, user input, and any content where the preservation of formatting is crucial. Here's a simple example of how the pre tag is used:
1<pre> 2function sayHello() { 3 console.log("Hello, world!"); 4} 5</pre>
In the above example, the preformatted text is displayed in a monospaced font, which is typical for code to enhance readability. This is because monospaced fonts, also known as fixed width fonts, ensure that each character occupies the same amount of horizontal space.
The basic syntax of the pre tag starts with <pre> and ends with </pre>. It supports global attributes in HTML, such as id, class, and style, which can be used to further customize its appearance. Additionally, the pre tag can accept event attributes like onclick and onmouseover, allowing for interactive elements within the preformatted text block.
One lesser-known attribute that can be particularly useful is the width attribute, which sets the desired width of the preformatted text, although CSS is now more commonly used for this purpose. Here's an example demonstrating the use of the width attribute:
1<pre width="50"> 2This is an example of preformatted text with a specific width. 3</pre>
Styling the pre tag with CSS can significantly enhance its appearance and readability. Common styles applied to the pre element include font-family, font-size, and background-color. By customizing these properties, developers can create a visually appealing and consistent look for all preformatted text blocks within their HTML documents.
For instance, applying a fixed width font and adjusting the font size can make the code snippets more readable:
1pre { 2 font-family: 'Courier New', monospace; 3 font-size: 16px; 4 background-color: #f4f4f4; 5}
Moreover, CSS can be utilized to add syntax highlighting to code snippets within the pre tag, although this often requires additional JavaScript libraries such as Prism.js or Highlight.js for full functionality.
The primary use of the pre tag is to display code snippets, computer code, and sample output in a way that preserves all formatting characters, including line breaks, tabs, and white space. This makes it an indispensable tool for developers looking to include code examples in their HTML documents. The pre tag also allows for displaying reserved characters, such as < and >, by rendering them as they are, without interpreting them as HTML tags.
Here's how you might use the pre tag to display a snippet of HTML code:
1<pre> 2<div class="example">This is an example.</div> 3</pre>
In this instance, the pre tag ensures that the HTML code is displayed exactly as written, including both spaces and reserved characters, making it clear and understandable for the reader.
The pre tag offers several advantages for displaying preformatted text, code snippets, computer programs, and user input. Its ability to preserve formatting exactly as it appears in the source code makes it ideal for tutorials, documentation, and any web content where code examples are necessary. Supported by most modern web browsers, the pre element is a reliable and straightforward way to include formatted text in HTML documents.
One of the key use cases for the pre tag is in educational content, where displaying code examples accurately is essential for learning. Additionally, it's widely used in technical blogs, documentation websites, and forums where sharing computer code and program output is common.
When working with the pre tag, several best practices and common questions arise, such as how to center a pre tag in HTML and how to style it effectively. To center a pre tag, you can use CSS to set the text-align property to center on the container element. Styling the pre tag involves customizing its appearance with CSS properties like font-family, font-size, and background-color to ensure that the preformatted text is both readable and visually consistent with the rest of the website.
Another common question is the difference between the pre-tag and the code-tagging. While the pre tag is used for preformatted text, preserving all formatting characters, the code tag is specifically meant for code snippets within a body of text. It does not inherently preserve whitespace or formatting.
To further illustrate the use of the pre tag, let's look at a few examples:
Example 1: Displaying a code snippet using the pre tag
1<pre> 2console.log("Hello, world!"); 3</pre>
Example 2: Displaying a computer program using the pre tag
1<pre> 2function greet(name) { 3 return "Hello, " + name + "!"; 4} 5console.log(greet("Alice")); 6</pre>
Example 3: Displaying user input using the pre tag
1<pre> 2User input: This is a sample of user-generated content. 3</pre>
Each example demonstrates the versatility of the pre tag in displaying various types of preformatted text, from simple code snippets to more complex computer programs and user input.
The HTML pre tag is an essential element for developers looking to display preformatted text, code snippets, and computer code within their HTML documents. Its ability to preserve formatting exactly as it appears in the source code makes it invaluable for educational content, technical documentation, and any web content where accuracy and clarity of code examples are paramount.
By understanding how to use, style, and apply best practices to the pre tag, developers can enhance the readability and appearance of their code examples, making their content more accessible and engaging for their audience. The tag description of the HTML pre element highlights its utility in maintaining the integrity of preformatted text, ensuring that both spaces and other formatting characters are displayed as intended, without the HTML parser altering their appearance.
The pre tag is denoted by <pre> and is a fundamental element in HTML for showcasing preformatted text. It's especially useful for displaying computer programs, user input, and any content where the preservation of formatting is crucial. Here's a simple example of how the pre tag is used:
1<pre> 2function sayHello() { 3 console.log("Hello, world!"); 4} 5</pre>
In the above example, the preformatted text is displayed in a monospaced font, which is typical for code to enhance readability. This is because monospaced fonts, also known as fixed width fonts, ensure that each character occupies the same amount of horizontal space.
The basic syntax of the pre tag starts with <pre> and ends with </pre>. It supports global attributes in HTML, such as id, class, and style, which can be used to further customize its appearance. Additionally, the pre tag can accept event attributes like onclick and onmouseover, allowing for interactive elements within the preformatted text block.
One lesser-known attribute that can be particularly useful is the width attribute, which sets the desired width of the preformatted text, although CSS is now more commonly used for this purpose. Here's an example demonstrating the use of the width attribute:
1<pre width="50"> 2This is an example of preformatted text with a specific width. 3</pre>
Styling the pre tag with CSS can significantly enhance its appearance and readability. Common styles applied to the pre element include font-family, font-size, and background-color. By customizing these properties, developers can create a visually appealing and consistent look for all preformatted text blocks within their HTML documents.
For instance, applying a fixed width font and adjusting the font size can make the code snippets more readable:
1pre { 2 font-family: 'Courier New', monospace; 3 font-size: 16px; 4 background-color: #f4f4f4; 5}
Moreover, CSS can be utilized to add syntax highlighting to code snippets within the pre tag, although this often requires additional JavaScript libraries such as Prism.js or Highlight.js for full functionality.
The primary use of the pre tag is to display code snippets, computer code, and sample output in a way that preserves all formatting characters, including line breaks, tabs, and white space. This makes it an indispensable tool for developers looking to include code examples in their HTML documents. The pre tag also allows for displaying reserved characters, such as < and >, by rendering them as they are, without interpreting them as HTML tags.
Here's how you might use the pre tag to display a snippet of HTML code:
1<pre> 2<div class="example">This is an example.</div> 3</pre>
In this instance, the pre tag ensures that the HTML code is displayed exactly as written, including both spaces and reserved characters, making it clear and understandable for the reader.
The pre tag offers several advantages for displaying preformatted text, code snippets, computer programs, and user input. Its ability to preserve formatting exactly as it appears in the source code makes it ideal for tutorials, documentation, and any web content where code examples are necessary. Supported by most modern web browsers, the pre element is a reliable and straightforward way to include formatted text in HTML documents.
One of the key use cases for the pre tag is in educational content, where displaying code examples accurately is essential for learning. Additionally, it's widely used in technical blogs, documentation websites, and forums where sharing computer code and program output is common.
When working with the pre tag, several best practices and common questions arise, such as how to center a pre tag in HTML and how to style it effectively. To center a pre tag, you can use CSS to set the text-align property to center on the container element. Styling the pre tag involves customizing its appearance with CSS properties like font-family, font-size, and background-color to ensure that the preformatted text is both readable and visually consistent with the rest of the website.
Another common question is the difference between the pre-tag and the code-tagging. While the pre tag is used for preformatted text, preserving all formatting characters, the code tag is specifically meant for code snippets within a body of text. It does not inherently preserve whitespace or formatting.
To further illustrate the use of the pre tag, let's look at a few examples:
Example 1: Displaying a code snippet using the pre tag
1<pre> 2console.log("Hello, world!"); 3</pre>
Example 2: Displaying a computer program using the pre tag
1<pre> 2function greet(name) { 3 return "Hello, " + name + "!"; 4} 5console.log(greet("Alice")); 6</pre>
Example 3: Displaying user input using the pre tag
1<pre> 2User input: This is a sample of user-generated content. 3</pre>
Each example demonstrates the versatility of the pre tag in displaying various types of preformatted text, from simple code snippets to more complex computer programs and user input.
The HTML pre tag is an essential element for developers looking to display preformatted text, code snippets, and computer code within their HTML documents. Its ability to preserve formatting exactly as it appears in the source code makes it invaluable for educational content, technical documentation, and any web content where accuracy and clarity of code examples are paramount.
By understanding how to use, style, and apply best practices to the pre tag, developers can enhance the readability and appearance of their code examples, making their content more accessible and engaging for their audience.
Tired of manually designing screens, coding on weekends, and technical debt? Let DhiWise handle it for you!
You can build an e-commerce store, healthcare app, portfolio, blogging website, social media or admin panel right away. Use our library of 40+ pre-built free templates to create your first application using DhiWise.
