<p>

The HTML <p> element represents a paragraph of text. Paragraphs are usually represented in visual media as blocks of text that are separated from adjacent blocks by vertical blank space and/or first-line indentation. Paragraphs are block-level elements.

Content categories Flow content, palpable content.
Permitted content Phrasing content.
Tag omission The start tag is required. The end tag may be omitted if the <p> element is immediately followed by an <address>, <article>, <aside>, <blockquote>, <div>, <dl>, <fieldset>, <footer>, <form>, <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <header>, <hr>, <menu>, <nav>, <ol>, <pre>, <section>, <table>, <ul> or another <p> element, or if there is no more content in the parent element and the parent element is not an <a> element.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts flow content.
Permitted ARIA roles Any
DOM interface HTMLParagraphElement

Attributes

This element includes the global attributes.

Note: The align attribute on <p> tags is obsolete and should no longer be used.

Example

<p>This is the first paragraph of text.
  This is the first paragraph of text.
  This is the first paragraph of text.
  This is the first paragraph of text.</p>
<p>This is the second paragraph.
 This is the second paragraph.
 This is the second paragraph.
 This is the second paragraph.</p>

The result of this code is:

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard
The definition of '<p>' in that specification.
Living Standard No change since the latest W3C snapshot HTML5
HTML5
The definition of '<p>' in that specification.
Recommendation align attribute is obsolete
HTML 4.01 Specification
The definition of '<p>' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Edge Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 1.0 (Yes) 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)
Feature Android Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) 1.0 (1.0) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)

See also