Home > Abakada: Back to Basics > Language References > HTML Elements > LINK Element

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Enables the current document to link to external files.

HTML 2, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5

HTML Syntax

<link
   disabled
   href = url
   id = value
   media = screen | print | all
   rel = alternate | stylesheet | start | next | prev | contents | index | glossary |
      copyright | chapter | section | shortcut icon | subsection | appendix | help | bookmark | offline
   rev = alternate | stylesheet | start | next | prev | contents | index | glossary |
      copyright | chapter | section | shortcut icon | subsection | appendix | help | bookmark | offline
   title = text
>

This element can be used only within the HEAD tag.

NOTE: Only the <link> start tag must be present. The element has no end tag.

The <link> element supports the following attributes, in addition to global attributes common to all HTML elements.

Attribute	Value	Description
crossorigin	anonymous, use-credentials	Specifies how the element handles cross-origin requests
href	URL	Specifies the location of the linked document
hreflang	language_code	Specifies the language of the text in the linked document
media	media_query	Specifies on what device the linked document will be displayed
referrerpolicy	no-referrer, no-referrer-when-downgrade, origin, origin-when-cross-origin, unsafe-url	Specifies which referrer to use when fetching the resource
rel	alternate, author, dns-prefetch, help, icon, license, next, pingback, preconnect, prefetch, preload, prerender, prev, search, stylesheet	Required. Specifies the relationship between the current document and the linked document
sizes	HeightxWidth, any	Specifies the size of the linked resource. Only for rel="icon"
title		Defines a preferred or an alternate stylesheet
type	media_type	Specifies the media type of the linked document

This example shows how to link to an external style sheet. The styles defined in that file are applied to the page.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" src="styles.css">

Linking Style Sheets