<samp> HTML sample output element

Try it

<p>I was trying to boot my computer, but I got this hilarious message:</p>

<p>
  <samp>Keyboard not found <br>Press F1 to continue</samp>
</p>

samp {
  font-weight: bold;
}

Attributes

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";
}

Examples

Basic example

In this basic 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>

Result

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:

HTML

<pre>
<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.

CSS

The CSS that achieves the appearance we want is:

.prompt {
  color: #bb0000;
}

samp > kbd {
  font-weight: bold;
}

.cursor {
  color: #0000bb;
}

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

Result

The resulting output is this:

Technical summary

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Related elements: <kbd>, <code>, <pre>
• The <output> element: a container for script-generated output