HTML col Tag –

CPlus365 November 18, 2025

0 21 1 minute read

HTML <col> tag is used to specify common column properties for each column within <colgroup> element in an HTML table.

The <col> tag is useful when it requires to apply common style rules for each column cell rather than applying individually.

Syntax

Note: In HTML <col> tag does not require a closing tag but in XHTML it require a closing </col> tag.

Following are some specifications about the HTML <col> tag

Display	Inline
Start tag/End tag	Start tag(Empty tag)
Usage	HTML tables

Example 1

<!DOCTYPE html><br />
<html><br />
<head><br />
	<title>Col tag</title><br />
</head><br />
<body><br />
<h2>Example of Col Tag</h2><br />
<table border=”1″><br />
	<colgroup><br />
		<col  span=”2″ style=”background-color: #7fffd4″><br />
		<col span=”2″ style=”background-color: 	#98f5ff”><br />
	</colgroup><br />
	<tr><br />
		<th>Roll No.</th><br />
		<th>Name</th><br />
		<th>Maths</th><br />
		<th>Science</th><br />
	</tr><br />
	<tr><br />
		<td>1</td><br />
		<td>Avinash</td><br />
		 <td>68</td><br />
		 <td>54</td><br />
	</tr><br />
	<tr><br />
		<td>2</td><br />
		<td>Neha</td><br />
		 <td>65</td><br />
		 <td>61</td><br />
	</tr><br />
	<tr><br />
		<td>3</td><br />
		<td>Jenny</td><br />
		 <td>55</td><br />
		 <td>78</td><br />
	</tr><br />
	<tr><br />
		<td>4</td><br />
		<td>Vivek</td><br />
		 <td>75</td><br />
		 <td>52</td><br />
	</tr><br />
</table><br />
</body><br />
</html><br />

Output:

HTML col tag

Attribute:

Tag-specific Attribute

element should contain. The default value of span attribute is 1.

Attribute	Value	Description
align	left center right justify char	It specifies the horizontal alignment of each column cell. (Not supported in HTML5).
char	character	It specifies the alignment of content based on Characters in a column. It will be ignored if align is not set to char. (Not supported in HTML5).
charoff	number	It sets the number of characters to offset the column data from the alignment character specified by the char attribute. (Not supported in HTML5).
span	number	It specifies the number of the columns which a
valign	top middle bottom baseline	It specifies the vertical alignment of the columns. (Not supported in HTML5).
width	% Pixels relative_length	It specifies the width of the column. (Not supported in HTML5).