<optgroup> Tag Syntax

Rules for coding HTML optgroup elements
<body>
   ... flow content expected ...
   <form method="POST" action="form-handler">
      ... flow content ...
      <select>
         ...
         <optgroup label="...">
            <option>...</option>
            ...
         </optgroup>
         ...
      </select>
      ... flow content ...
   </form>
   ...
</body>
Rules for coding the HTML optgroup element

Make sure you understand the difference between a tag and element and are familiar with the definitions of namespace and other HTML terms.

  1. Inside a select element, include an optgroup element for each group of options in the select list.
  2. Begin the optgroup element with a starting <optgroup> tag. The element name uses lower case letters and should be in the HTML namespace, which it will pick up automatically from the xmlns attribute on the <html> tag.
  3. Inside the <optgroup> starting tag, include a label attribute with the label for the option group.
  4. Inside the optgroup element, between the starting <optgroup> tag and the ending </optgroup> tag, code the options of the select list.
  5. End the optgroup element with a matching </optgroup> closing tag.
optgroup Content Model
Content of the optgroup element

The content of the optgroup element consists of a list of options, each created with an <option> tag.