<input type="submit">

<input> elements of type submit are rendered as buttons. When the click event occurs (typically because the user clicked the button), the

user agent attempts to submit the form to the server.

Value
An <input type="submit"> element's value attribute contains a string which is displayed as the button's label. Buttons do not have a true
value otherwise. The value provides the accessible description for the button.
Setting the value attribute
HTML Play

<input type="submit" value="Send Request" />

Play

Send Request

Omitting the value attribute

If you don't specify a value , the button will have a default label, chosen by the user agent. This label is likely to be something along the lines
of "Submit" or "Submit Query." Here's an example of a submit button with a default label in your browser:
HTML Play

<input type="submit" />

Play

Submit

Additional attributes
In addition to the attributes shared by all <input> elements, submit button inputs support the following attributes.
formaction
A string indicating the URL to which to submit the data. This takes precedence over the action attribute on the <form> element that owns the
<input> .

This attribute is also available on <input type="image"> and <button> elements.

formenctype
A string that identifies the encoding method to use when submitting the form data to the server. There are three permitted values:
application/x-www-form-urlencoded

This, the default value, sends the form data as a string after URL encoding the text using an algorithm such as encodeURI() .
multipart/form-data

Uses the FormData API to manage the data, allowing for files to be submitted to the server. You must use this encoding type if your form
includes any <input> elements of type file ( <input type="file"> ).
text/plain

Plain text; mostly useful only for debugging, so you can easily see the data that's to be submitted.
If specified, the value of the formenctype attribute overrides the owning form's action attribute.
This attribute is also available on <input type="image"> and <button> elements.
formmethod
A string indicating the HTTP method to use when submitting the form's data; this value overrides any method attribute given on the owning
form. Permitted values are:
get

A URL is constructed by starting with the URL given by the formaction or action attribute, appending a question mark ("?") character, then
appending the form's data, encoded as described by formenctype or the form's enctype attribute. This URL is then sent to the server using
an HTTP get request. This method works well for simple forms that contain only ASCII characters and have no side effects. This is the
default value.
post

The form's data is included in the body of the request that is sent to the URL given by the formaction or action attribute using an HTTP
post method. This method supports complex data and file attachments.

dialog

This method is used to indicate that the button closes the dialog with which the input is associated, and does not transmit the form data at
all.
This attribute is also available on <input type="image"> and <button> elements.
formnovalidate
A Boolean attribute which, if present, specifies that the form should not be validated before submission to the server. This overrides the value
of the novalidate attribute on the element's owning form.
This attribute is also available on <input type="image"> and <button> elements.
formtarget
A string which specifies a name or keyword that indicates where to display the response received after submitting the form. The string must
be the name of a browsing context (that is, a tab, window, or <iframe> ). A value specified here overrides any target given by the target
attribute on the <form> that owns this input.
In addition to the actual names of tabs, windows, or inline frames, there are a few special keywords that can be used:
_self
 Loads the response into the same browsing context as the one that contains the form. This will replace the current document with the
received data. This is the default value used if none is specified.
_blank

Loads the response into a new, unnamed, browsing context. This is typically a new tab in the same window as the current document, but
may differ depending on the configuration of the user agent.
_parent

Loads the response into the parent browsing context of the current one. If there is no parent context, this behaves the same as _self .
_top

Loads the response into the top-level browsing context; this is the browsing context that is the topmost ancestor of the current context. If
the current context is the topmost context, this behaves the same as _self .
This attribute is also available on <input type="image"> and <button> elements.
Using submit buttons
<input type="submit"> buttons are used to submit forms. If you want to create a custom button and then customize the behavior using

JavaScript, you need to use <input type="button"> , or better still, a <button> element.
If you choose to use <button> elements to create the buttons in your form, keep this in mind: If the <button> is inside a <form> , that button
will be treated as the "submit" button. So you should be in the habit of expressly specifying which button is the submit button.
A simple submit button
We'll begin by creating a form with a simple submit button:
HTML Play

<form>
<div>
<label for="example">Let's submit some text</label>
<input id="example" type="text" name="text" />
</div>
<div>
<input type="submit" value="Send" />
</div>
</form>

This renders like so:

Play

Try entering some text into the text field, and then submitting the form.
Upon submitting, the data name/value pair gets sent to the server. In this instance, the string will be text=usertext , where "usertext" is the
text entered by the user, encoded to preserve special characters. Where and how the data is submitted depends on the configuration of the
<form> ; see Sending form data for more details.
Adding a keyboard shortcut to a submit button
Keyboard shortcuts, also known as access keys and keyboard equivalents, let the user trigger a button using a key or combination of keys on
the keyboard. To add a keyboard shortcut to a submit button — just as you would with any <input> for which it makes sense — you use the
accesskey global attribute.

In this example, s is specified as the access key (you'll need to press s plus the particular modifier keys for your browser/OS combination).
In order to avoid conflicts with the user agent's own keyboard shortcuts, different modifier keys are used for access keys than for other
shortcuts on the host computer. See accesskey for further details.
Here's the previous example with the s access key added:
HTML Play

<form>
<div>
<label for="example">Let's submit some text</label>
<input id="example" type="text" name="text" />
</div>
<div>
<input type="submit" value="Send" accesskey="s" />
</div>
</form>

For example, in Firefox for Mac, pressing Control - Option - S triggers the Send button, while Chrome on Windows uses Alt +S.
Play

The problem with the above example is that the user will not know what the access key is! This is especially true since the modifiers are
typically non-standard to avoid conflicts. When building a site, be sure to provide this information in a way that doesn't interfere with the site
design (for example by providing an easily accessible link that points to information on what the site access keys are). Adding a tooltip to the
button (using the title attribute) can also help, although it's not a complete solution for accessibility purposes.
Disabling and enabling a submit button
To disable a submit button, specify the disabled attribute on it, like so:
HTML

<input type="submit" value="Send" disabled />

You can enable and disable buttons at run time by setting disabled to true or false ; in JavaScript this looks like btn.disabled = true or
btn.disabled = false .

Note: See the <input type="button"> page for more ideas about enabling and disabling buttons.
Validation
Submit buttons don't participate in constraint validation; they have no real value to be constrained.
Examples
We've included simple examples above. There isn't really anything more to say about submit buttons. There's a reason this kind of control is
sometimes called a "simple button."
Technical Summary
Value A string used as the button's label
Events click

Supported common attributes type and value

IDL attributes value

DOM interface HTMLInputElement

Methods None
Implicit ARIA Role button

Specifications
Specification
HTML Standard
# submit-button-state-(type=submit)

Browser compatibility
Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
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type="submit" Android for Android
Android
Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.
Full support See implementation notes.

See also
 <input> and the HTMLInputElement interface which implements it.
Forms and buttons
HTML forms
The <button> element
Compatibility of CSS properties

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This page was last modified on Jan 24, 2024 by MDN contributors.