caret
A caret (sometimes called a "text cursor") is an indicator displayed on the screen to indicate where text input will be inserted.
Most user interfaces represent the caret using a thin vertical line or a character-sized box that flashes, but this can vary. This point in the text is called the insertion point. The word "caret" differentiates the text insertion point from the mouse cursor.
On the web, a caret is used to represent the insertion point in <input>
and <textarea>
elements, as well as any elements whose contenteditable
attribute is set, thereby allowing the contents of the element to be edited by the user.
See also
- Caret navigation on Wikipedia
CSS related to the caret
You can set the color of the caret for a given element's editable content by setting the element's CSS caret-color
property to the appropriate <color>
value.
HTML elements that may present a caret
These elements provide text entry fields or boxes and therefore make use of the caret.
<input type="text">
<input type="password">
<input type="search">
<input type="date">
,<input type="time">
,<input type="datetime">
, and<input type="datetime-local">
<input type="number">
,<input type="range">
<input type="email">
,<input type="tel">
, and<input type="url">
<textarea>
- Any element with its
contenteditable
attribute set