HTML href Attribute

Last Updated : 20 May, 2026

The HTML href attribute specifies the URL of a document, allowing one page to link and navigate to another.

  • Defines the destination address of a hyperlink.
  • Commonly used with the <a> (anchor) tag.
  • Can link to web pages, files, email addresses, or sections within a page.
  • Enables navigation between different documents.

HTML <a> href Attribute

It is used to specify the URL of the page that the link goes to. When the href attribute is not present in the <a>, then the element will not be a hyperlink.

Syntax

<a href="URL">
HTML
<!--Driver Code Starts-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>HTML href attribute</title>
</head>

<!--Driver Code Ends-->

<body>
    <h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
    <h2>HTML a href Attribute</h2>
    <a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/community/">
        Click to open in the same tab
    </a>
    <br />
    <a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/community/" target="_blank">
        Click to open in a different tab
    </a>
</body>

<!--Driver Code Starts-->

</html>
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HTML <base> href Attribute

The HTML <base> href attribute is used to specify the base URL for all the relative URL of a page.

Syntax

<base href="URL">
HTML
<!--Driver Code Starts-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>HTML href Attribute</title>
  
    <!-- Declaring the base URL -->
<!--Driver Code Ends-->

    <base href="geeksforgeeks.org" target="_blank" />
</head>
<h2>GeeksforGeeks</h2>
<h3>HTML base href Attribute</h3>

<body>
    <img src=
"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/cdn-uploads/20210908192254/logo2.png" 
         width="200"
         height="200" />
</body>

<!--Driver Code Starts-->

</html>
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HTML <area> href Attribute

The <area> href attribute is used to specify the URL of the target page. When the href attribute is not present in the <area>, an element that it will not be a hyperlink.

Syntax

<area href="URL">
HTML
<!--Driver Code Starts-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>HTML href Attribute</title>
</head>

<!--Driver Code Ends-->

<body style="text-align: center">
    <img src=
"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20190227165729/area11.png" 
         alt="alt_attribute"
         width="300" height="119" 
         class="aligncenter" usemap="#shapemap" />
    <map name="shapemap">
      
        <!-- area tag contained image. -->
        <area shape="poly" coords="59, 31, 28, 83, 91, 83"
              href=
"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20190227165802/area2.png" 
              alt="Triangle" />
        <area shape="circle" coords="155, 56, 26"
              href=
"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20190227165934/area3.png" 
              alt="Circle" />
        <area shape="rect" coords="224, 30, 276, 82"
              href=
"https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20190227170021/area4.png" 
              alt="Square" />
    </map>
</body>

<!--Driver Code Starts-->

</html>
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The HTML <link> href attribute is used to specify the URL of the linked document. It mostly contains the URL of the stylesheet file. 

Syntax

<link href = "url">
HTML
<!--Driver Code Starts-->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>HTML href Attribute</title>
<!--Driver Code Ends-->

    <link id="linkid" rel="stylesheet" 
          type="text/css" 
          href="style.css" 
          sizes="16*16" 
          hreflang="en-us" />
</head>

<body style="text-align: center">
    <h2>GeeksforGeeks</h2>
    <b>link href Attribute</b>
</body>

<!--Driver Code Starts-->

</html>
<!--Driver Code Ends-->
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