<defs>
Baseline
Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.
The <defs> SVG element is used to store graphical objects that will be used at a later time. Objects created inside a <defs> element are not rendered directly. To display them you have to reference them (with a <use> element for example).
Graphical objects can be referenced from anywhere, however, defining these objects inside of a <defs> element promotes understandability of the SVG content and is beneficial to the overall accessibility of the document.
Usage context
| Categories | Container element, Structural element |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Any number of the following elements, in any order: Animation elements Descriptive elements Shape elements Structural elements Gradient elements <a>, <clipPath>, <filter>, <foreignObject>, <image>, <marker>, <mask>, <pattern>, <script>, <style>, <switch>, <text>, <view> |
Attributes
This element only includes global attributes.
DOM Interface
This element implements the SVGDefsElement interface.
Example
<svg viewBox="0 0 10 10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- Some graphical objects to use -->
<defs>
<circle id="myCircle" cx="0" cy="0" r="5" />
<linearGradient id="myGradient" gradientTransform="rotate(90)">
<stop offset="20%" stop-color="gold" />
<stop offset="90%" stop-color="red" />
</linearGradient>
</defs>
<!-- using my graphical objects -->
<use x="5" y="5" href="#myCircle" fill="url('#myGradient')" />
</svg>
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 # Head |
Browser compatibility
| desktop | mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
defs
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
systemLanguage
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legend
Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.
- Full support
- Full support