Individual form controls automatically receive some global styling. All textual <input>
, <textarea>
, and <select>
elements with .form-control
are set to width: 100%;
by default. Wrap labels and controls in .form-group
for optimum spacing.
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<form role="form">
<div class="form-group">
<label for="exampleInputEmail1">Email address</label>
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="exampleInputEmail1" placeholder="Enter email">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="exampleInputPassword1">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="exampleInputPassword1" placeholder="Password">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="exampleInputFile">File input</label>
<input type="file" id="exampleInputFile">
<p class="help-block">Example block-level help text here.</p>
</div>
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox"> Check me out
</label>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">Submit</button>
</form>
Don't mix form groups with input groups
Do not mix form groups directly with input groups. Instead, nest the input group inside of the form group.
Add .form-inline
to your <form>
for left-aligned and inline-block controls. This only applies to forms within viewports that are at least 768px wide.
Requires custom widths
Inputs and selects have width: 100%;
applied by default in Bootstrap. Within inline forms, we reset that to width: auto;
so multiple controls can reside on the same line. Depending on your layout, additional custom widths may be required.
Always add labels
Screen readers will have trouble with your forms if you don't include a label for every input. For these inline forms, you can hide the labels using the .sr-only
class. There are further alternative methods of providing a label for assistive technologies, such as the aria-label
, aria-labelledby
or title
attribute. If none of these is present, screen readers may resort to using the placeholder
attribute, if present, but note that use of placeholder
as a replacement for other labelling methods is not advised.
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<form class="form-inline" role="form">
<div class="form-group">
<div class="input-group">
<label class="sr-only" for="exampleInputEmail2">Email address</label>
<div class="input-group-addon">@</div>
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="exampleInputEmail2" placeholder="Enter email">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="sr-only" for="exampleInputPassword2">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="exampleInputPassword2" placeholder="Password">
</div>
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox"> Remember me
</label>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">Sign in</button>
</form>
Use Bootstrap's predefined grid classes to align labels and groups of form controls in a horizontal layout by adding .form-horizontal
to the form. Doing so changes .form-group
s to behave as grid rows, so no need for .row
.
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<form class="form-horizontal" role="form">
<div class="form-group">
<label for="inputEmail3" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="inputEmail3" placeholder="Email">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="inputPassword3" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Password</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="inputPassword3" placeholder="Password">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<div class="col-sm-offset-2 col-sm-10">
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox"> Remember me
</label>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<div class="col-sm-offset-2 col-sm-10">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">Sign in</button>
</div>
</div>
</form>
Examples of standard form controls supported in an example form layout.
Inputs
Most common form control, text-based input fields. Includes support for all HTML5 types: text
, password
, datetime
, datetime-local
, date
, month
, time
, week
, number
, email
, url
, search
, tel
, and color
.
Type declaration required
Inputs will only be fully styled if their type
is properly declared.
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<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Text input">
Textarea
Form control which supports multiple lines of text. Change rows
attribute as necessary.
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<textarea class="form-control" rows="3"></textarea>
Checkboxes and radios
Checkboxes are for selecting one or several options in a list, while radios are for selecting one option from many.
A checkbox or radio with the disabled
attribute will be styled appropriately. To have the <label>
for the checkbox or radio also display a "not-allowed" cursor when the user hovers over the label, add the .disabled
class to your .radio
, .radio-inline
, .checkbox
, .checkbox-inline
, or <fieldset>
.
Default (stacked)
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<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" value="">
Option one is this and that—be sure to include why it's great
</label>
</div>
<div class="checkbox disabled">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" value="" disabled>
Option two is disabled
</label>
</div>
<div class="radio">
<label>
<input type="radio" name="optionsRadios" id="optionsRadios1" value="option1" checked>
Option one is this and that—be sure to include why it's great
</label>
</div>
<div class="radio">
<label>
<input type="radio" name="optionsRadios" id="optionsRadios2" value="option2">
Option two can be something else and selecting it will deselect option one
</label>
</div>
<div class="radio disabled">
<label>
<input type="radio" name="optionsRadios" id="optionsRadios3" value="option3" disabled>
Option three is disabled
</label>
</div>
Inline checkboxes and radios
Use the .checkbox-inline
or .radio-inline
classes on a series of checkboxes or radios for controls that appear on the same line.
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<label class="checkbox-inline">
<input type="checkbox" id="inlineCheckbox1" value="option1"> 1
</label>
<label class="checkbox-inline">
<input type="checkbox" id="inlineCheckbox2" value="option2"> 2
</label>
<label class="checkbox-inline">
<input type="checkbox" id="inlineCheckbox3" value="option3"> 3
</label>
<label class="radio-inline">
<input type="radio" name="inlineRadioOptions" id="inlineRadio1" value="option1"> 1
</label>
<label class="radio-inline">
<input type="radio" name="inlineRadioOptions" id="inlineRadio2" value="option2"> 2
</label>
<label class="radio-inline">
<input type="radio" name="inlineRadioOptions" id="inlineRadio3" value="option3"> 3
</label>
Checkboxes and radios without label text
Should you have no text within the <label>
, the input is positioned as you'd expect. Currently only works on non-inline checkboxes and radios. Remember to still provide some form of label for assistive technologies (for instance, using aria-label
).
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<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="blankCheckbox" value="option1" aria-label="...">
</label>
</div>
<div class="radio">
<label>
<input type="radio" name="blankRadio" id="blankRadio1" value="option1" aria-label="...">
</label>
</div>
Selects
Use the default option, or add multiple
to show multiple options at once.
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<select class="form-control">
<option>1</option>
<option>2</option>
<option>3</option>
<option>4</option>
<option>5</option>
</select>
<select multiple class="form-control">
<option>1</option>
<option>2</option>
<option>3</option>
<option>4</option>
<option>5</option>
</select>
When you need to place plain text next to a form label within a form, use the .form-control-static
class on a <p>
.
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<form class="form-horizontal" role="form">
<div class="form-group">
<label class="col-sm-2 control-label">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<p class="form-control-static">email@example.com</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="inputPassword" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Password</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="inputPassword" placeholder="Password">
</div>
</div>
</form>
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<form class="form-inline" role="form">
<div class="form-group">
<label class="sr-only">Email</label>
<p class="form-control-static">email@example.com</p>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="inputPassword2" class="sr-only">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="inputPassword2" placeholder="Password">
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">Confirm identity</button>
</form>
We remove the default outline
styles on some form controls and apply a box-shadow
in its place for :focus
.
Demo :focus
state
The above example input uses custom styles in our documentation to demonstrate the :focus
state on a .form-control
.
Add the disabled
boolean attribute on an input to prevent user input and trigger a slightly different look.
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<input class="form-control" id="disabledInput" type="text" placeholder="Disabled input here..." disabled>
Add the disabled
attribute to a <fieldset>
to disable all the controls within the <fieldset>
at once.
Caveat about link functionality of <a>
Our styles use pointer-events: none
to try to disable the link functionality of <a class="btn btn-*">
buttons in this case, but that CSS property is not yet standardized and isn't fully supported in Opera 18 and below, or in Internet Explorer 11. So to be safe, use custom JavaScript to disable such links.
Cross-browser compatibility
While Bootstrap will apply these styles in all browsers, Internet Explorer 11 and below don't fully support the disabled
attribute on a <fieldset>
. Use custom JavaScript to disable the fieldset in these browsers.
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<form role="form">
<fieldset disabled>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="disabledTextInput">Disabled input</label>
<input type="text" id="disabledTextInput" class="form-control" placeholder="Disabled input">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="disabledSelect">Disabled select menu</label>
<select id="disabledSelect" class="form-control">
<option>Disabled select</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox"> Can't check this
</label>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</fieldset>
</form>
Add the readonly
boolean attribute on an input to prevent user input and style the input as disabled.
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<input class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Readonly input here…" readonly>
Bootstrap includes validation styles for error, warning, and success states on form controls. To use, add .has-warning
, .has-error
, or .has-success
to the parent element. Any .control-label
, .form-control
, and .help-block
within that element will receive the validation styles.
Conveying validation state to assistive technologies
Using these validation styles to denote the state of a form control only provides a visual indication, which will not be conveyed to users of assistive technologies – such as screen readers.
Ensure that an alternative indication of state is also provided. For instance, you can include a hint about state in the form control's <label>
text itself (as is the case in the following code example), or associate an additional element with textual information about the validation state with the form control using aria-describedby
(see the example in the following section). In the case of an error, you could also use the aria-invalid="true"
attribute on the form control.
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<div class="form-group has-success">
<label class="control-label" for="inputSuccess1">Input with success</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputSuccess1">
</div>
<div class="form-group has-warning">
<label class="control-label" for="inputWarning1">Input with warning</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputWarning1">
</div>
<div class="form-group has-error">
<label class="control-label" for="inputError1">Input with error</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputError1">
</div>
<div class="has-success">
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="checkboxSuccess" value="option1">
Checkbox with success
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="has-warning">
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="checkboxWarning" value="option1">
Checkbox with warning
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="has-error">
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="checkboxError" value="option1">
Checkbox with error
</label>
</div>
</div>
With optional icons
You can also add optional feedback icons with the addition of .has-feedback
and the right icon.
Feedback icons only work with textual <input class="form-control">
elements.
Icons, labels, and input groups
Manual positioning of feedback icons is required for inputs without a label and for input groups with an add-on on the right. You are strongly encouraged to provide labels for all inputs for accessibility reasons. If you wish to prevent labels from being displayed, hide them with the .sr-only
class. If you must do without labels, adjust the top
value of the feedback icon. For input groups, adjust the right
value to an appropriate pixel value depending on the width of your addon.
Conveying the icon's meaning to assistive technologies
To ensure that assistive technologies – such as screen readers – correctly convey the meaning of an icon, additional hidden text should be included with the .sr-only
class and explicitly associated with the form control it relates to using aria-describedby
. Alternatively, ensure that the meaning (for instance, the fact that there is a warning for a particular text entry field) is conveyed in some other form, such as changing the text of the actual <label>
associated with the form control.
Although the following examples already mention the validation state of their respective form controls in the <label>
text itself, the above technique (using .sr-only
text and aria-describedby
) has been included for illustrative purposes.
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<div class="form-group has-success has-feedback">
<label class="control-label" for="inputSuccess2">Input with success</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputSuccess2" aria-describedby="inputSuccess2Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputSuccess2Status" class="sr-only">(success)</span>
</div>
<div class="form-group has-warning has-feedback">
<label class="control-label" for="inputWarning2">Input with warning</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputWarning2" aria-describedby="inputWarning2Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-warning-sign form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputWarning2Status" class="sr-only">(warning)</span>
</div>
<div class="form-group has-error has-feedback">
<label class="control-label" for="inputError2">Input with error</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputError2" aria-describedby="inputError2Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputError2Status" class="sr-only">(error)</span>
</div>
Optional icons in horizontal and inline forms
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<form class="form-horizontal" role="form">
<div class="form-group has-success has-feedback">
<label class="control-label col-sm-3" for="inputSuccess3">Input with success</label>
<div class="col-sm-9">
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputSuccess3" aria-describedby="inputSuccess3Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputSuccess3Status" class="sr-only">(success)</span>
</div>
</div>
</form>
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<form class="form-inline" role="form">
<div class="form-group has-success has-feedback">
<label class="control-label" for="inputSuccess4">Input with success</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputSuccess4" aria-describedby="inputSuccess4Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputSuccess4Status" class="sr-only">(success)</span>
</div>
</form>
Optional icons with hidden .sr-only
labels
For form controls with no visible label, add the .sr-only
class on the label. Bootstrap will automatically adjust the position of the icon once it's been added.
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<div class="form-group has-success has-feedback">
<label class="control-label sr-only" for="inputSuccess5">Hidden label</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inputSuccess5" aria-describedby="inputSuccess5Status">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok form-control-feedback" aria-hidden="true"></span>
<span id="inputSuccess5Status" class="sr-only">(success)</span>
</div>
Set heights using classes like .input-lg
, and set widths using grid column classes like .col-lg-*
.
Height sizing
Create taller or shorter form controls that match button sizes.
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<input class="form-control input-lg" type="text" placeholder=".input-lg">
<input class="form-control" type="text" placeholder="Default input">
<input class="form-control input-sm" type="text" placeholder=".input-sm">
<select class="form-control input-lg">...</select>
<select class="form-control">...</select>
<select class="form-control input-sm">...</select>
Horizontal form group sizes
Quickly size labels and form controls within .form-horizontal
by adding .form-group-lg
or .form-group-sm
.
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<form class="form-horizontal" role="form">
<div class="form-group form-group-lg">
<label class="col-sm-2 control-label" for="formGroupInputLarge">Large label</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input class="form-control" type="text" id="formGroupInputLarge" placeholder="Large input">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group form-group-sm">
<label class="col-sm-2 control-label" for="formGroupInputSmall">Small label</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input class="form-control" type="text" id="formGroupInputSmall" placeholder="Small input">
</div>
</div>
</form>
Column sizing
Wrap inputs in grid columns, or any custom parent element, to easily enforce desired widths.
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<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-2">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder=".col-xs-2">
</div>
<div class="col-xs-3">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder=".col-xs-3">
</div>
<div class="col-xs-4">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder=".col-xs-4">
</div>
</div>
Help text
Block level help text for form controls.
Associating help text with form controls
Help text should be explicitly associated with the form control it relates to using the aria-describedby
attribute. This will ensure that assistive technologies – such as screen readers – will announce this help text when the user focuses or enters the control.
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<label class="sr-only" for="inputHelpBlock">Input with help text</label>
<input type="text" id="inputHelpBlock" class="form-control" aria-describedby="helpBlock">
...
<span id="helpBlock" class="help-block">A block of help text that breaks onto a new line and may extend beyond one line.</span>