optgroup Element

Module

The optgroup element is declared by the XHTML 1.1 Forms Module but is not present in the *W3C XHTML 1.1 Basic Forms Module

Elements in the Forms Module are:
form | label | textarea | select | optgroup | option | button | fieldset | legend |
input type="button" | input type="checkbox" | input type="file" | input type="hidden" | input type="image" | input type="password" | input type="radio" | input type="reset" | input type="submit" | input type="text"

Description

The optgroup element is used to group a set of option elements within a select list. The mandatory label attribute is used to assign a title for the group which will be visible to the user. Bear in mind, however, that not all user agents support optgroup so your options should make sense even if the optgroup labels are not rendered.

<label for="animal">Which of these animals do you like best?</label>
<select id="animal" name="animal">
  <optgroup label="Mammals">
    <option value="1" selected="selected">Hippopotamus</option>
    <option value="2">Elephant</option>
    <option value="3">Lion</option>
    <option value="4">Giraffe</option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="Reptiles">
    <option value="5">Crocodile</option>
    <option value="6">Iguana</option>
    <option value="7">Tortoise</option>
    <option value="8">Snake</option>
  </optgroup>
</select>

For the selection of "Iguana" above, the name=value pair of animal=6 will be sent to the processing URI if the select list data is submitted as part of an enclosing form.

#REQUIRED Attributes

The label attribute is #REQUIRED on the optgroup element.

Specific Attributes

From the Forms Module - the Element's own Module

disabled [ type Boolean ]

If this attribute is present, the optgroup is initially disabled. The user cannot interact with a disabled control. (Unsupported in IE7 and below for optgroup and option.)

label [ type Text - #REQUIRED ]

A label for the optgroup, to be rendered within the select list

Common Attributes

From the Core Attribute Collection

class [ type NMTOKENS ]

One or more space separated classes

id [ type ID ]

A unique identifier for the element

style [ type CDATA ], from the Style Attribute Module (deprecated)

Element-specific styles

title [ type Text ]

Descriptive title for the element (in some user agents this may appear as a "tooltip" when the mouse hovers over the element)

xmlns [ type URI - #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' ]

XML namespace

From the I18N Attribute Collection

dir [ type Enumeration (ltr | rtl) ], from the Bi-directional Text Module

Left-to-right or right-to-left directionality

xml:lang [ type LanguageCode ]

A language code for the element

From the Events Attribute Collection

All attributes in the Events Attribute Collection are supported:
onclick, ondblclick, onmousedown, onmouseup, onmouseover, onmousemove, onmouseout, onkeypress, onkeydown, onkeyup

Content Model

option+

NOTE: This element cannot be empty

See Content Model & Nesting for information about Content Model syntax and Nesting Groups.

Valid children of optgroup

• From the Forms Module: option

Valid parents of optgroup

• From the Forms Module: select