HTMLAnchorElement

The HTMLAnchorElement interface represents hyperlink elements and provides special properties and methods (beyond those of the regular HTMLElement object interface they also have available to them by inheritance) for manipulating the layout and presentation of such elements.

Properties

Inherits properties from its parent, HTMLElement, and implements those from HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.

HTMLAnchorElement.accessKey

Is a DOMString representing a single character that switches input focus to the hyperlink.

HTMLAnchorElement.charset

Is a DOMString representing the character encoding of the linked resource.

HTMLAnchorElement.coords

Is a DOMString representing a comma-separated list of coordinates.

HTMLAnchorElement.download

Is a DOMString indicating that the linked resource is intended to be downloaded rather than displayed in the browser. The value represent the proposed name of the file. If the name is not a valid filename of the underlying OS, browser will adapt it. The value is a URL with a scheme like http:, file:, data: or even blob: (created with URL.createObjectURL).

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.hash

Is a USVString representing the fragment identifier, including the leading hash mark ('#'), if any, in the referenced URL.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.host

Is a USVString representing the hostname and port (if it's not the default port) in the referenced URL.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.hostname

Is a USVString representing the hostname in the referenced URL.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.href

Is a USVString that reflects the href HTML attribute, containing a valid URL of a linked resource.

HTMLAnchorElement.hreflang

Is a DOMString that reflects the hreflang HTML attribute, indicating the language of the linked resource.

HTMLAnchorElement.media

Is a DOMString that reflects the media HTML attribute, indicating the intended media for the linked resource.

HTMLAnchorElement.name

Is a DOMString representing the anchor name.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.password

Is a USVString containing the password specified before the domain name.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.origin Read only

Returns a USVString containing the origin of the URL, that is its scheme, its domain and its port.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.pathname

Is a USVString representing the path name component, if any, of the referenced URL.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.port

Is a USVString representing the port component, if any, of the referenced URL.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.protocol

Is a USVString representing the protocol component, including trailing colon (':'), of the referenced URL.

HTMLAnchorElement.referrerPolicy

Is a DOMString that reflects the referrerpolicy HTML attribute indicating which referrer to use.

HTMLAnchorElement.rel

Is a DOMString that reflects the rel HTML attribute, specifying the relationship of the target object to the linked object.

HTMLAnchorElement.relList Read only

Returns a DOMTokenList that reflects the rel HTML attribute, as a list of tokens.

HTMLAnchorElement.rev

Is a DOMString representing that the rev HTML attribute, specifying the relationship of the link object to the target object.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.search

Is a USVString representing tThe search element, including leading question mark ('?'), if any, of the referenced URL.

HTMLAnchorElement.shape

Is a DOMString representing the shape of the active area.

HTMLAnchorElement.tabindex

Is a long containing the position of the element in the tabbing navigation order for the current document.

HTMLAnchorElement.target

Is a DOMString that reflects the target HTML attribute, indicating where to display the linked resource.

HTMLAnchorElement.text

Is a DOMString being a synonym for the Node.textContent property.

HTMLAnchorElement.type

Is a DOMString that reflects the type HTML attribute, indicating the MIME type of the linked resource.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.username

Is a USVString containing the username specified before the domain name.

Methods

Inherits methods from its parent, HTMLElement, and implements those from HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.

HTMLElement.blur()

Removes the keyboard focus from the current element.

HTMLElement.focus()

Gives the keyboard focus to the current element.

HTMLHyperlinkElementUtils.toString()

Returns a USVString containing the whole URL. It is a synonym for URLUtils.href, though it can't be used to modify the value.

The blur() and focus() methods are inherited from HTMLElement from HTML5 on, but were defined on HTMLAnchorElement in DOM Level 2 HTML and earlier specifications.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Referrer Policy The definition of 'referrer attribute' in that specification.	Working Draft	Added the referrer property.
WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of 'HTMLAnchorElement' in that specification.	Living Standard	The following property has been added: download. Technically, the URL-related properties, media, host, hostname, pathname, port, protocol, search, and hash, have been moved to the URLUtils interface, and HTMLAreaElement implements this interface.
HTML5 The definition of 'HTMLAnchorElement' in that specification.	Recommendation	The methods blur() and focus(), as well as the properties tabindex and accessKey, are now defined on HTMLElement. The following properties are now obsolete: charset, coords, name, rev, and shape. The following properties have been added: hash, host, hostname, media, pathname, port, protocol, relList, search, and text.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification The definition of 'HTMLAnchorElement' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification The definition of 'HTMLAnchorElement' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

See also

• The HTML element implementing this interface: <a>