HTML Paragraphs

HTML documents are divided into paragraphs.

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HTML Paragraphs

Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.

Example

<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>

Note: Browsers automatically add an empty line before and after a paragraph.

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Don't Forget the End Tag

Most browsers will display HTML correctly even if you forget the end tag:

Example

<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph

The example above will work in most browsers, but don't rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can produce unexpected results or errors.

Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip end tags.

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HTML Line Breaks

Use the <br /> tag if you want a line break (a new line) without starting a new paragraph:

Example

<p>This is<br />a para<br />graph with line breaks</p>

The <br /> element is an empty HTML element. It has no end tag.

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<br> or <br />

In XHTML, XML, elements with no end tag (closing tag) are not allowed.

Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead works better in XHTML and XML applications.

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HTML Output - Useful Tips

You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed. Large or small screens, and resized windows will create different results.

With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code.

The browser will remove extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed. Any number of lines count as one line, and any number of spaces count as one space.

Try it yourself

(The example demonstrates some HTML formatting problems)

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Examples from this page

HTML paragraphs
How HTML paragraphs are displayed in a browser.

Line breaks
The use of line breaks in an HTML document.

Poem problems
Some problems with HTML formatting.

More Examples

More paragraphs
The default behaviors of paragraphs.

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HTML Tag Reference

W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about HTML elements and their attributes.

Tag	Description
<p>	Defines a paragraph
<br />	Inserts a single line break