<span>

The HTML <span> element is a generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not inherently represent anything. It can be used to group elements for styling purposes (using the class or id attributes), or because they share attribute values, such as lang. It should be used only when no other semantic element is appropriate. <span> is very much like a <div> element, but <div> is a block-level element whereas a <span> is an inline element.

Content categories	Flow content, phrasing content.
Permitted content	Phrasing content
Tag omission	None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents	Any element that accepts phrasing content, or any element that accepts flow content.
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	HTMLSpanElement (before HTML 5, the interface was HTMLElement)

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Example 1

<p><span>Some text</span></p>

Result

Some text

Example 2

<li><span>
    <a href="portfolio.html" target="_blank">See my portfolio</a>
</span></li>

CSS:

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of '<span>' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML5 The definition of '<span>' in that specification.	Recommendation	The DOM interface is now HTMLSpanElement.
HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<span>' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

See also

• HTML <div> element