Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1866 - 5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE
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5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE
The <PRE> element represents a character cell block of text and is
suitable for text that has been formatted for a monospaced font.
The <PRE> tag may be used with the optional WIDTH attribute. The
WIDTH attribute specifies the maximum number of characters for a line
and allows the HTML user agent to select a suitable font and
indentation.
Within preformatted text:
- Line breaks within the text are rendered as a move to the
beginning of the next line.
NOTE - References to the "beginning of a new line"
do not imply that the renderer is forbidden from
using a constant left indent for rendering
preformatted text. The left indent may be
constrained by the width required.
- Anchor elements and phrase markup may be used.
NOTE - Constraints on the processing of <PRE>
content may limit or prevent the ability of the HTML
user agent to faithfully render phrase markup.
- Elements that define paragraph formatting (headings,
address, etc.) must not be used.
NOTE - Some historical documents contain <P> tags in
<PRE> elements. User agents are encouraged to treat
this as a line break. A <P> tag followed by a
newline character should produce only one line
break, not a line break plus a blank line.
- The horizontal tab character (code position 9 in the HTML
document character set) must be interpreted as the smallest
positive nonzero number of spaces which will leave the
number of characters so far on the line as a multiple of 8.
Documents should not contain tab characters, as they are not
supported consistently.
Example of use:
<PRE>
Line 1.
Line 2 is to the right of line 1. <a href="abc">abc</a>
Line 3 aligns with line 2. <a href="def">def</a>
</PRE>
Next: 5.5.2.1. Example and Listing: XMP, LISTING
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1866 - 5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE