<input> elements of type range let the user specify a numeric value which must be no less than a given value, and no more than another given value. The precise value, however, is not considered important. This is typically represented using a slider or dial control rather than a text entry box like the number input type.

Because this kind of widget is imprecise, it should only be used if the control's exact value isn't important.

If the user's browser doesn't support type range, it will fall back and treat it as a text input.

There is no pattern validation available; however, the following forms of automatic validation are performed:

• If the value is set to something which can't be converted into a valid floating-point number, validation fails because the input is suffering from a bad input.
• The value won't be less than min. The default is 0.
• The value won't be greater than max. The default is 100.
• The value will be a multiple of step. The default is 1.

The value attribute contains a string which contains a string representation of the selected number. The value is never an empty string (""). The default value is halfway between the specified minimum and maximum—unless the maximum is actually less than the minimum, in which case the default is set to the value of the min attribute. The algorithm for determining the default value is:

defaultValue =
  rangeElem.max < rangeElem.min
    ? rangeElem.min
    : rangeElem.min + (rangeElem.max - rangeElem.min) / 2;

If an attempt is made to set the value lower than the minimum, it is set to the minimum. Similarly, an attempt to set the value higher than the maximum results in it being set to the maximum.

In addition to the attributes shared by all <input> elements, range inputs offer the following attributes.

The value of the list attribute is the id of a <datalist> element located in the same document. The <datalist> provides a list of predefined values to suggest to the user for this input. Any values in the list that are not compatible with the type are not included in the suggested options. The values provided are suggestions, not requirements: users can select from this predefined list or provide a different value.

See the adding tick marks below for an example of how the options on a range are denoted in supported browsers.

The greatest value in the range of permitted values. If the value entered into the element exceeds this, the element fails constraint validation. If the value of the max attribute isn't a number, then the element has no maximum value.

This value must be greater than or equal to the value of the min attribute. See the HTML max attribute.

The lowest value in the range of permitted values. If the value of the element is less than this, the element fails constraint validation. If a value is specified for min that isn't a valid number, the input has no minimum value.

This value must be less than or equal to the value of the max attribute. See the HTML min attribute.

The step attribute is a number that specifies the granularity that the value must adhere to. Only values that match the specified stepping interval (min if specified, value otherwise, or an appropriate default value if neither of those is provided) are valid.

The step attribute can also be set to the any string value. This step value means that no stepping interval is implied and any value is allowed in the specified range (barring other constraints, such as min and max). See the Setting step to the any value example for how this works in supported browsers.

The default stepping value for range inputs is 1, allowing only integers to be entered, unless the stepping base is not an integer; for example, if you set min to -10 and value to 1.5, then a step of 1 will allow only values such as 1.5, 2.5, 3.5,… in the positive direction and -0.5, -1.5, -2.5,… in the negative direction. See the HTML step attribute.

Similar to the -moz-orient non-standard CSS property impacting the <progress> and <meter> elements, the orient attribute defines the orientation of the range slider. Values include horizontal, meaning the range is rendered horizontally, and vertical, where the range is rendered vertically.

While the number type lets users enter a number with optional constraints forcing their value to be between a minimum and a maximum value, it does require that they enter a specific value. The range input type lets you ask the user for a value in cases where the user may not even care—or know—what the specific numeric value selected is.

A few examples of situations in which range inputs are commonly used:

• Audio controls such as volume and balance, or filter controls.
• Color configuration controls such as color channels, transparency, brightness, etc.
• Game configuration controls such as difficulty, visibility distance, world size, and so forth.
• Password length for a password manager's generated passwords.

As a rule, if the user is more likely to be interested in the percentage of the distance between minimum and maximum values than the actual number itself, a range input is a great candidate. For example, in the case of a home stereo volume control, users typically think "set volume at halfway to maximum" instead of "set volume to 0.5".

By default, the minimum is 0 and the maximum is 100. If that's not what you want, you can easily specify different bounds by changing the values of the min and/or max attributes. These can be any floating-point value.

For example, to ask the user for a value between -10 and 10, you can use:

<input type="range" min="-10" max="10" />

By default, the granularity is 1, meaning the value is always an integer. To control the granularity, you can change the step attribute. For example, If you need a value to be halfway between 5 and 10, you should set the value of step to 0.5:

Setting the step attribute

<input type="range" min="5" max="10" step="0.5" />

Setting step to "any"

If you want to accept any value regardless of how many decimal places it extends to, you can specify a value of any for the step attribute:

HTML

<input id="pi_input" type="range" min="0" max="3.14" step="any" />
<p>Value: <output id="value"></output></p>

JavaScript

const value = document.querySelector("#value");
const input = document.querySelector("#pi_input");
value.textContent = input.value;
input.addEventListener("input", (event) => {
  value.textContent = event.target.value;
});

This example lets the user select any value between 0 and π without any restriction on the fractional part of the value selected. JavaScript is used to show how the value changes as the user interacts with the range.

To add tick marks to a range control, include the list attribute, giving it the id of a <datalist> element which defines a series of tick marks on the control. Each point is represented using an <option> element with its value set to the range's value at which a mark should be drawn.

HTML

<label for="temp">Choose a comfortable temperature:</label><br />
<input type="range" id="temp" name="temp" list="markers" />

<datalist id="markers">
  <option value="0"></option>
  <option value="25"></option>
  <option value="50"></option>
  <option value="75"></option>
  <option value="100"></option>
</datalist>

Result

To help you from repeating code you can reuse that same <datalist> for multiple <input type="range"> elements, and other <input> types.

HTML

<p>
  <label for="temp1">Temperature for room 1:</label>
  <input type="range" id="temp1" name="temp1" list="values" />
</p>
<p>
  <label for="temp2">Temperature for room 2:</label>
  <input type="range" id="temp2" name="temp2" list="values" />
</p>

<p>
  <label for="temp3">Temperature for room 3:</label>
  <input type="range" id="temp3" name="temp3" list="values" />
</p>

<datalist id="values">
  <option value="0" label="0"></option>
  <option value="25" label="25"></option>
  <option value="50" label="50"></option>
  <option value="75" label="75"></option>
  <option value="100" label="100"></option>
</datalist>

Result

You can label tick marks by giving the <option> elements label attributes. However, the label content will not be displayed by default. You can use CSS to show the labels and to position them correctly. Here's one way you could do this.

HTML

<label for="tempB">Choose a comfortable temperature:</label><br />
<input type="range" id="tempB" name="temp" list="values" />

<datalist id="values">
  <option value="0" label="very cold!"></option>
  <option value="25" label="cool"></option>
  <option value="50" label="medium"></option>
  <option value="75" label="getting warm!"></option>
  <option value="100" label="hot!"></option>
</datalist>

CSS

datalist {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: space-between;
  writing-mode: vertical-lr;
  width: 200px;
}

option {
  padding: 0;
}

input[type="range"] {
  width: 200px;
  margin: 0;
}

Result

By default, browsers render range inputs as sliders with the knob sliding left and right.

To create a vertical range, wherein the knob slides up and down, set the CSS appearance property to slider-vertical and include the non-standard orient attribute for Firefox.

Horizontal range control

Consider this range control:

<input type="range" id="volume" min="0" max="11" value="7" step="1" />

This control is horizontal (at least on most if not all major browsers; others might vary).

Using the appearance property

The appearance property has a non-standard value of slider-vertical that, well, makes sliders vertical.

We use the same HTML as in the previous examples:

<input type="range" min="0" max="11" value="7" step="1" />

We target just the inputs with a type of range:

input[type="range"] {
  appearance: slider-vertical;
}

Using the orient attribute

In Firefox only, there is a non-standard orient property.

Use similar HTML as in the previous examples, we add the attribute with a value of vertical:

<input type="range" min="0" max="11" value="7" step="1" orient="vertical" />

writing-mode: bt-lr

The writing-mode property should generally not be used to alter text direction for internationalization or localization purposes, but can be used for special effects.

We use the same HTML as in the previous examples:

<input type="range" min="0" max="11" value="7" step="1" />

We target just the inputs with a type of range, changing the writing mode from the default to bt-lr, or bottom-to-top and left-to-right:

input[type="range"] {
  writing-mode: bt-lr;
}

Putting it all together

As each of the above examples works in different browsers, you can put all of them in a single example to make it work cross browser:

We keep the orient attribute with a value of vertical for Firefox:

<input type="range" min="0" max="11" value="7" step="1" orient="vertical" />

We target just the inputs with a type of range and orient set to vertical, changing the writing-mode from the default to bt-lr, or bottom-to-top and left-to-right, for pre-Blink versions of Edge, and add appearance: slider-vertical which is supported in Blink and Webkit browsers:

input[type="range"][orient="vertical"] {
  writing-mode: bt-lr;
  appearance: slider-vertical;
}

• HTML Forms
• <input> and the HTMLInputElement interface it's based upon
• <input type="number">
• validityState.rangeOverflow and validityState.rangeUnderflow
• Controlling multiple parameters with ConstantSourceNode
• Styling the range element
• Compatibility of CSS properties