Web/HTML/Element/samp

The HTML Sample Element (<samp>) is used to enclose inline text which represents sample (or quoted) output from a computer program. Its contents are typically rendered using the browser's default monospaced font (such as Courier or Lucida Console).

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

Content categories	Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content.
Permitted content	Phrasing content.
Tag omission	None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents	Any element that accepts phrasing content.
Implicit ARIA role	No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	`HTMLElement`

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Usage notes

You can use a CSS rule to override the browser's default font face for the <samp> element; however, it's possible that the browser's preferences may take precedence over any CSS you specify.

The CSS to override the default font face would look like this:

samp {
  font-family: "Courier";
}

If you need an element which will serve as a container for output generated by your website or app's JavaScript code, you should instead use the <output> element.

Examples

Basic example

In this simple example, a paragraph includes an example of the output of a program.

<p>When the process is complete, the utility will output the text
<samp>Scan complete. Found <em>N</em> results.</samp> You can then
proceed to the next step.</p>

The resulting output looks like this:

Sample output including user input

You can nest the <kbd> element within a <samp> block to present an example that includes text entered by the user. For example, consider this text presenting a transcript of a Linux (or macOS) console session:

HTML

<pre>
<samp><span class="prompt">mike@interwebz:~$</span> <kbd>md5 -s "Hello world"</kbd>
MD5 ("Hello world") = 3e25960a79dbc69b674cd4ec67a72c62

<span class="prompt">mike@interwebz:~$</span> <span class="cursor">█</span></samp></pre>

Note the use of <span> to allow customization of the appearance of specific portions of the sample text such as the shell prompts and the cursor. Note also the use of <kbd> to represent the command the user entered at the prompt in the sample text.

CSS

The CSS that achieves the appearance we want is:

.prompt {
  color: #b00;
}

samp > kbd {
  font-weight: bold;
}

.cursor {
  color: #00b;
}

This simply gives the prompt and cursor fairly subtle colorization and emboldens the keyboard input within the sample text.

Result

The resulting output is this:

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of '<samp>' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML5The definition of '<samp>' in that specification.	Recommendation
HTML 4.01 SpecificationThe definition of '<samp>' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`samp`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support Yes	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support