HTML <hr> Tag

The HTML <hr> tag represents a paragraph-level thematic break in an HTML document.

The <hr> tag could be used in a scene change in a story, or a transition to another topic within a section of a reference book.

Syntax

The <hr> tag is written as <hr> (no end tag) with the new topic following the <hr> element (and the old topic preceding it).

Like this:

Examples

Change of Topic

This example demonstrates how you can use the <hr> tag to represent a change of topic within a section.

Note that the HTML5 specification states There is no need for an <hr> element between the sections themselves, since the <section> elements and the <h1> elements imply thematic changes themselves.

Change of Scene

Here, the <hr> tag is used to represent a change of scene in a story.

Attributes

Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The <hr> element accepts the following attributes.

Element-Specific Attributes

This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <hr> tag/element.

AttributeDescription
None 

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <hr> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.

Again, you can use any of these with the <hr> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

The align, noshade, size, and width attributes are not supported in HTML5 (they were deprecated in HTML 4). Use CSS instead of these attributes.

Also, HTML 4 and previous versions defined the <hr> element in terms of presentation only (i.e. that it represented a horizontal rule). HTML5 has changed this, so that it now represents a paragraph-level thematic break. Note that most browsers usually present the <hr> element as a horizontal rule, but it now has a specific semantic purpose, rather than purely presentation.

To see more detail on the two versions see HTML5 <hr> Tag and HTML4 <hr> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.

Template

Here's a template for the <hr> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.

Note that the <hr> element does not actually have any local attributes (i.e. attributes that are specific to the element), but the following global attributes and event handlers are available to the element (and all other HTML elements).

For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <hr> Tag and HTML4 <hr> Tag.

Tag Details

For more details about the <hr> tag, see HTML5 <hr> Tag and HTML4 <hr> Tag.

Specifications

Here are the official specifications for the <hr> element.

What's the Difference?

W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.

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