index.md

---

title: <maction>
slug: Web/MathML/Element/maction
browser-compat: mathml.elements.maction

---

{{MathMLRef}}{{Deprecated_Header}}

The <maction> MathML element allows to bind actions to mathematical expressions. By default, only the first child is rendered but some browsers may take into account actiontype and selection attributes to implement custom behaviors.

Note: Historically, this element provided a mechanism to make MathML formulas interactive. Nowadays, it is recommended to rely on JavaScript and other Web technologies to implement this use case.

Attributes

This element's attributes include the global MathML attributes as well as the following attributes:

• actiontype {{Deprecated_Inline}} {{Non-standard_Inline}}

  • : The action which specifies what happens for this element. Special behavior for the following values were implemented by some browsers:

    • statusline: If there is a click on the expression or the reader moves the pointer over it, the message is sent to the browser's status line. The syntax is: <maction actiontype="statusline"> expression message </maction>.

    • toggle: When there is a click on the subexpression, the rendering alternates the display of selected subexpressions. Therefore each click increments the selection value. The syntax is: <maction actiontype="toggle" selection="positive-integer" > expression1 expression2 expressionN </maction>.

• selection {{Deprecated_Inline}} {{Non-standard_Inline}}

  • : The child element currently visible, only taken into account for actiontype="toggle" or non-standard actiontype values. The default value is 1, which is the first child element.

Examples

The following example uses the "toggle" actiontype:

<p>
  Try clicking this formula several times:

  <math display="block">
    <maction actiontype="toggle">
      <mfrac>
        <mn>6</mn>
        <mn>8</mn>
      </mfrac>

      <mfrac>
        <mrow>
          <mn>3</mn>
          <mo>×</mo>
          <mn>2</mn>
        </mrow>
        <mrow>
          <mn>4</mn>
          <mo>×</mo>
          <mn>2</mn>
        </mrow>
      </mfrac>

      <mfrac>
        <mn>3</mn>
        <mn>4</mn>
      </mfrac>
    </maction>
  </math>
</p>

{{ EmbedLiveSample('maction_example', 700, 200, "", "") }}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}