What is the <textarea> tag in HTML?

The <textarea> tag in HTML

The <textarea> tag defines a multi-line text box to input data from the user. The structure of the <textarea> tag is as follows:

<textarea id="aboutMe" name="aboutMe" rows="2" cols="5">
I am a content writer at Educative, Inc.
</textarea>

The <textarea> tag displays a multi-line text box for data input. The height and width of the text box are usually defined by rows and cols attributes, respectively. The row attribute specifies the number of text lines that must be visible in the text box. The cols attribute specifies the number of characters that must be visible in a single line - the default value is 20. Both of these dimensions can also be set using CSS. Even if the rows and cols attributes are specified, the user can expand the text box by dragging the symbol in the bottom left corner. The name field is usually supplied when the data of the text box is to be submitted as part of a <form>.

Example usage of the <textarea> tag

The following code provides an example:

In the example above, the cols attribute for the <textarea> tag is set to 25; therefore, the visible characters in the first line are I am a content writer at . The rows attribute is set to 2, so there are only 2 visible rows in the text box.

Attributes