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Meta httpEquiv Property

Meta Object Reference Meta Object

Example

Return the HTTP header for the information in the content attribute:

var x = document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].httpEquiv;

The result of x will be:

content-type
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Definition and Usage

The httpEquiv property sets or returns an HTTP header for the information in the content attribute.

The http-equiv attribute can be used to simulate an HTTP response header.

The value of the http-equiv attribute depends on the value of the content attribute.

Note: If the name attribute is set, the http-equiv attribute should not be set.


Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The httpEquiv property is supported in all major browsers.


Syntax

Return the httpEquiv property:

metaObject.httpEquiv

Set the httpEquiv property:

metaObject.httpEquiv=HTTP-header

Some commonly used HTTP-header values are:

Value Description
content-type Specifies the character set for the contents of the document.

Tip: It is recommended to always specify the character set.

Example:

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

default-style Specifies the preferred style sheet to use.

Example:

<meta http-equiv="default-style" content="the documents preferred stylesheet">

Note: The value of the content attribute above must match the value of the ttitle attribute on a link element in the same document, or it must match the value of the title attribute on a style element in the same document.

refresh Defines a time interval for the document to refresh itself.

Example:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300">

Note: The value "refresh" should be used carefully, as it takes the control of a page away from the user. Using "refresh" will cause a failure in W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Return Value

Type Description
String Information about the HTTP response message header

More Examples

Example

Change the value of the http-equiv and content attributes. The following example will refresh the document every 30 seconds:

document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].httpEquiv = "refresh";
document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].content = "30";
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Meta Object Reference Meta Object