# HTML <meta> http-equiv Attribute

HTML <meta> tag

## Example

Refresh document every 30 seconds:

<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">
</head>
Try it Yourself »

## Definition and Usage

The http-equiv attribute provides an HTTP header for the information/value of the content attribute.

The http-equiv attribute can be used to simulate an HTTP response header.

## Browser Support

Attribute |  |  |  |  |
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
http-equiv | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes

## Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

Using http-equiv is no longer the only way to specify the character set of an HTML document:

- HTML 4.01: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
- HTML5: <meta charset="UTF-8">

## Syntax

<meta http-equiv="content-type|default-style|refresh">

## Attribute Values

Value | Description
--- | ---
content-type | Specifies the character encoding for the document. Example: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
default-style | Specified the preferred style sheet to use. Example: <meta http-equiv="default-style" content="the document's preferred stylesheet"> Note: The value of the content attribute above must match the value of the title attribute on a link element in the same document, or it must match the value of the title attribute on a style element in the same document.
refresh | Defines a time interval for the document to refresh itself. Example: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300"> Note: The value "refresh" should be used carefully, as it takes the control of a page away from the user. Using "refresh" will cause a failure in W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

HTML <meta> tag

### WEB HOSTING

UK Reseller Hosting

### WEB BUILDING

FREE Website BUILDER Free HTML5 Templates

### W3SCHOOLS EXAMS

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, XML, and ASP Certifications

### SHARE THIS PAGE

### Color Picker

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tutorial HTML5 Tutorial CSS Tutorial CSS3 Tutorial Bootstrap Tutorial

### JavaScript

JavaScript Tutorial jQuery Tutorial jQuery Mobile Tutorial AngularJS Tutorial AJAX Tutorial JSON Tutorial

### Graphics

Canvas Tutorial SVG Tutorial Google Maps Tutorial

### Server Side

SQL Tutorial PHP Tutorial ASP Tutorial ASP.NET Tutorial VBScript Tutorial AppML Tutorial

### Web

Web Building Web Statistics Web Certification

### XML

XML Tutorial DTD Tutorial Schema Tutorial XML DOM Tutorial XPath Tutorial XSLT Tutorial XQuery Tutorial XSL-FO Tutorial RSS Tutorial WSDL Tutorial

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tag Reference HTML Event Reference HTML Color Reference CSS 1,2,3 Reference Bootstrap Reference

### JavaScript

JavaScript Reference HTML DOM Reference jQuery Reference jQuery Mobile Reference Google Maps Reference

### Server Side

PHP Reference SQL Reference ASP Reference VBScript Reference Razor Reference ASP.NET Reference

### XML

XML DOM Reference XSLT Reference XSL-FO Reference XPath Reference XQuery Reference Schema Reference RSS Reference SVG Reference

### HTML Charsets

HTML Character Sets HTML ASCII HTML ANSI HTML Windows-1252 HTML ISO-8859-1 HTML Symbols HTML UTF-8

### HTML/CSS

HTML Examples CSS Examples

### Browser Scripting

JavaScript Examples HTML DOM Examples jQuery Examples jQuery Mobile Examples AngularJS Examples AJAX Examples

### Server Scripting

PHP Examples ASP Examples VBScript Examples Razor Examples .NET Examples

### XML Languages

XML Examples DTD Examples XML DOM Examples XSL Examples XSLT Examples XPath Examples XQuery Examples Schema Examples RSS Examples SVG Examples