The <a> SVG element creates a hyperlink to other web pages, files, locations in the same page, email addresses, or any other URL. It is very similar to HTML’s <a> element.
SVG's <a> element is a container, which means you can create a link around text (like in HTML) but also around any shape.
@namespace svg url(http://www.w3.org/2000/svg);
html,body,svg { height:100% }
<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- A link around a shape -->
<a href="/docs/Web/SVG/Element/circle">
<circle cx="50" cy="40" r="35"/>
</a>
<!-- A link around a text -->
<a href="/docs/Web/SVG/Element/text">
<text x="50" y="90" text-anchor="middle">
<circle>
</text>
</a>
</svg>
/* As SVG does not provide a default visual style for links,
it's considered best practice to add some */
@namespace svg url(http://www.w3.org/2000/svg);
/* Necessary to select only SVG <a> elements, and not also HTML’s.
See warning below */
svg|a:link, svg|a:visited {
cursor: pointer;
}
svg|a text,
text svg|a {
fill: blue; /* Even for text, SVG uses fill over color */
text-decoration: underline;
}
svg|a:hover, svg|a:active {
outline: dotted 1px blue;
}
Since this element shares its tag name with HTML's <a> element, selecting a with CSS or querySelector may apply to the wrong kind of element. Try the @namespace rule to distinguish the two.
Attributes
download- Instructs browsers to download a URL instead of navigating to it, so the user will be prompted to save it as a local file.
Value type: <string> ; Default value: none; Animatable: no href- The URL or URL fragment the hyperlink points to.
Value type: <URL> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes hreflang- The human language of the URL or URL fragment that the hyperlink points to.
Value type: <string> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes ping- A space-separated list of URLs to which, when the hyperlink is followed,
POSTrequests with the bodyPINGwill be sent by the browser (in the background). Typically used for tracking. For a more widely-supported feature addressing the same use cases, seeNavigator.sendBeacon().
Value type: <list-of-URLs> ; Default value: none; Animatable: no referrerpolicy- Which referrer to send when fetching the URL.
Value type:no-referrer|no-referrer-when-downgrade|same-origin|origin|strict-origin|origin-when-cross-origin|strict-origin-when-cross-origin|unsafe-url; Default value: none; Animatable: no rel- The relationship of the target object to the link object.
Value type: <list-of-Link-Types> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes target- Where to display the linked URL.
Value type:_self|_parent|_top|_blank|<name> ; Default value:_self; Animatable: yes type- A MIME type for the linked URL.
Value type: <string> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes xlink:hrefDeprecated since SVG 2- The URL or URL fragment that the hyperlink points to. May be required for backwards compatibility for older browsers.
Value type: <URL> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes
Global attributes
- Core Attributes
- Most notably:
id,lang,tabindex - Styling Attributes
class,style- Conditional Processing Attributes
- Most notably:
requiredExtensions,systemLanguage - Event Attributes
- Global event attributes, Document element event attributes, Graphical event attributes
- Presentation Attributes
- Most notably:
clip-path,clip-rule,color,color-interpolation,color-rendering,cursor,display,fill,fill-opacity,fill-rule,filter,mask,opacity,pointer-events,shape-rendering,stroke,stroke-dasharray,stroke-dashoffset,stroke-linecap,stroke-linejoin,stroke-miterlimit,stroke-opacity,stroke-width,transform,vector-effect,visibility - XLink Attributes
- Most notably:
xlink:title - ARIA Attributes
aria-activedescendant,aria-atomic,aria-autocomplete,aria-busy,aria-checked,aria-colcount,aria-colindex,aria-colspan,aria-controls,aria-current,aria-describedby,aria-details,aria-disabled,aria-dropeffect,aria-errormessage,aria-expanded,aria-flowto,aria-grabbed,aria-haspopup,aria-hidden,aria-invalid,aria-keyshortcuts,aria-label,aria-labelledby,aria-level,aria-live,aria-modal,aria-multiline,aria-multiselectable,aria-orientation,aria-owns,aria-placeholder,aria-posinset,aria-pressed,aria-readonly,aria-relevant,aria-required,aria-roledescription,aria-rowcount,aria-rowindex,aria-rowspan,aria-selected,aria-setsize,aria-sort,aria-valuemax,aria-valuemin,aria-valuenow,aria-valuetext,role
Usage notes
| Categories | Container element |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Any number of the following elements, in any order: Animation elements Descriptive elements Shape elements Structural elements Gradient elements <a>, <altGlyphDef>, <clipPath>, <color-profile>, <cursor>, <filter>, <font>, <font-face>, <foreignObject>, <image>, <marker>, <mask>, <pattern>, <script>, <style>, <switch>, <text>, <view> |
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 The definition of '<a>' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | Replaced xlink:href attribute by href |
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) The definition of '<a>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1.5 | IE Full support 9 | Opera Full support 9 | Safari Full support 3.1 | WebView Android Full support 3 | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support 3.1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
download | Chrome ? | Edge ? | Firefox Full support Yes | IE ? | Opera ? | Safari ? | WebView Android ? | Chrome Android ? | Firefox Android Full support Yes | Opera Android ? | Safari iOS ? | Samsung Internet Android ? |
href | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 51 | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support 12.1 | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 51 | Opera Android ? | Safari iOS Full support 12.2 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
hreflang | Chrome No support No | Edge No support ≤18 — 79 | Firefox Full support 61 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android Full support 61 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
ping | Chrome No support No | Edge No support ≤18 — 79 | Firefox Full support 61 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android Full support 61 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
referrerPolicy | Chrome Full support 51 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 52 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 38 | Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support 51 | Chrome Android Full support 51 | Firefox Android Full support 52 | Opera Android Full support 41 | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.2 |
rel | Chrome No support No | Edge No support ≤18 — 79 | Firefox Full support 61 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android Full support 61 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
target | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1.5 | IE Full support 9 | Opera Full support 9 | Safari Full support 3.1 | WebView Android Full support 3 | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support 3.1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
type | Chrome No support No | Edge No support ≤18 — 79 | Firefox Full support 61 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android Full support 61 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
xlink:actuate | Chrome ? | Edge ? | Firefox ? | IE ? | Opera ? | Safari ? | WebView Android ? | Chrome Android ? | Firefox Android ? | Opera Android ? | Safari iOS ? | Samsung Internet Android ? |
xlink:href | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1.5 | IE Full support 9 | Opera Full support 9 | Safari Full support 3.1 | WebView Android Full support 3 | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support 3.1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
xlink:show | Chrome ? | Edge ? | Firefox ? | IE ? | Opera ? | Safari ? | WebView Android ? | Chrome Android ? | Firefox Android ? | Opera Android ? | Safari iOS ? | Samsung Internet Android ? |
xlink:title | Chrome ? | Edge ? | Firefox ? | IE ? | Opera ? | Safari ? | WebView Android ? | Chrome Android ? | Firefox Android ? | Opera Android ? | Safari iOS ? | Samsung Internet Android ? |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Compatibility unknown
- Compatibility unknown
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
