index.md

---

title: <a>
slug: Web/SVG/Element/a
page-type: svg-element
tags:
  - Element
  - Reference
  - SVG
  - SVG Container
browser-compat: svg.elements.a

---

{{SVGRef}}

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 {{htmlelement("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.

Example

@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">&lt;circle&gt;</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;
}

{{EmbedLiveSample('Example', 100, 100)}}

Warning: Since this element shares its tag name with HTML's <a> element, selecting a with CSS or {{domxref("Document.querySelector", "querySelector")}} may apply to the wrong kind of element. Try the @namespace rule to distinguish the two.

Attributes

• {{htmlattrxref("download", "a")}}

  • : Instructs browsers to download a {{Glossary("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

• {{SVGAttr("href")}}

  • : The {{Glossary("URL")}} or URL fragment the hyperlink points to. Value type: <URL> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes

• {{htmlattrxref("hreflang", "a")}}

  • : The human language of the URL or URL fragment that the hyperlink points to. Value type: <string> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes

• {{htmlattrxref("ping", "a")}} {{experimental_inline}}

  • : A space-separated list of URLs to which, when the hyperlink is followed, {{HTTPMethod("POST")}} requests with the body PING will be sent by the browser (in the background). Typically used for tracking. For a more widely-supported feature addressing the same use cases, see {{domxref("Navigator.sendBeacon()")}}. Value type: <list-of-URLs> ; Default value: none; Animatable: no

• {{htmlattrxref("referrerpolicy", "a")}}

  • : Which referrer to send when fetching the {{Glossary("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

• {{htmlattrxref("rel", "a")}}

  • : The relationship of the target object to the link object. Value type: <list-of-Link-Types> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes

• {{SVGAttr("target")}}

  • : Where to display the linked {{Glossary("URL")}}. Value type: _self|_parent|_top|_blank|<name> ; Default value: _self; Animatable: yes

• {{htmlattrxref("type", "a")}}

  • : A {{Glossary("MIME type")}} for the linked URL. Value type: <string> ; Default value: none; Animatable: yes

• {{SVGAttr("xlink:href")}} {{deprecated_inline}}

  • : 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: {{SVGAttr('id')}}, {{SVGAttr('lang')}}, {{SVGAttr('tabindex')}}

• Styling Attributes

  • : {{SVGAttr('class')}}, {{SVGAttr('style')}}

• Conditional Processing Attributes

  • : Most notably: {{SVGAttr('requiredExtensions')}}, {{SVGAttr('systemLanguage')}}

• Event Attributes

  • : Global event attributes, Document element event attributes, Graphical event attributes

• Presentation Attributes

  • : Most notably: {{SVGAttr('clip-path')}}, {{SVGAttr('clip-rule')}}, {{SVGAttr('color')}}, {{SVGAttr('color-interpolation')}}, {{SVGAttr('color-rendering')}}, {{SVGAttr('cursor')}}, {{SVGAttr('display')}}, {{SVGAttr('fill')}}, {{SVGAttr('fill-opacity')}}, {{SVGAttr('fill-rule')}}, {{SVGAttr('filter')}}, {{SVGAttr('mask')}}, {{SVGAttr('opacity')}}, {{SVGAttr('pointer-events')}}, {{SVGAttr('shape-rendering')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-dasharray')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-dashoffset')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-linecap')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-linejoin')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-miterlimit')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-opacity')}}, {{SVGAttr('stroke-width')}}, {{SVGAttr("transform")}}, {{SVGAttr('vector-effect')}}, {{SVGAttr('visibility')}}

• XLink Attributes

  • : Most notably: {{SVGAttr("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

{{svginfo}}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}