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The HTML Sample Element (<samp>) is used to enclose inline text which represents sample (or quoted) output from a computer program. Its contents are typically rendered using the browser's default monospaced font (such as Courier or Lucida Console).

Content categories Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content.
Permitted content Phrasing content.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts phrasing content.
Permitted ARIA roles Any
DOM interface HTMLElement


This element only includes the global attributes.

Usage notes

You can use a CSS rule to override the browser's default font face for the <samp> element; however, it's possible that the browser's preferences may take precedence over any CSS you specify.

The CSS to override the default font face would look like this:

samp {
  font-family: "Courier";

If you need an element which will serve as a container for output generated by your website or app's JavaScript code, you should instead use the <output> element.


Basic example

In this simple example, a paragraph includes an example of the output of a program.

<p>When the process is complete, the utility will output the text
<samp>Scan complete. Found <em>N</em> results.</samp> You can then
proceed to the next step.</p>

The resulting output looks like this:

Sample output including user input

You can nest the <kbd> element within a <samp> block to present an example that includes text entered by the user. For example, consider this text presenting a transcript of a Linux (or macOS) console session:


<samp><span class="prompt">mike@interwebz:~$</span><kbd>md5 -s "Hello world"</kbd>
MD5 ("Hello world") = 3e25960a79dbc69b674cd4ec67a72c62

<span class="prompt">mike@interwebz:~$</span> <span class="cursor">█</span></samp></pre>

Note the use of <span> to allow customization of the appearance of specific portions of the sample text such as the shell prompts and the cursor. Note also the use of <kbd> to represent the command the user entered at the prompt in the sample text.


The CSS that achieves the appearance we want is:

.prompt {
  color: #b00;

samp > kbd {
  font-weight: bold;

.cursor {
  color: #00b;

This simply gives the prompt and cursor fairly subtle colorization and emboldens the keyboard input within the sample text.


The resulting output is this:


Specification Status Comment
HTML Living Standard
The definition of '<samp>' in that specification.
Living Standard  
The definition of '<samp>' in that specification.
HTML 4.01 Specification
The definition of '<samp>' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub


Full support  
Full support

See also