The <tt> HTML element creates inline text which is presented using the user agent's default monospace font face. This element was created for the purpose of rendering text as it would be displayed on a fixed-width display such as a teletype, text-only screen, or line printer.

The terms non-proportional, monotype, and monospace are used interchangeably and have the same general meaning: they describe a typeface whose characters are all the same number of pixels wide.

This element is obsolete, however. You should use the more semantically helpful <code>, <kbd>, <samp>, or <var> elements for inline text that needs to be presented in monospace type, or the <pre> tag for content that should be presented as a separate block.

This element only includes the global attributes

This example uses <tt> to show text entered into, and output by, a terminal application.

<p>
  Enter the following at the telnet command prompt:
  <code>set localecho</code><br />

  The telnet client should display: <tt>Local Echo is on</tt>
</p>

Result

You can override the browser's default font—if the browser permits you to do so, which it isn't required to do—using CSS:

CSS

tt {
  font-family: "Lucida Console", "Menlo", "Monaco", "Courier", monospace;
}

HTML

<p>
  Enter the following at the telnet command prompt:
  <code>set localecho</code><br />

  The telnet client should display: <tt>Local Echo is on</tt>
</p>

Result

The <tt> element is, by default, rendered using the browser's default non-proportional font. You can override this using CSS by creating a rule using the tt selector, as seen in the example Overriding the default font above.

Although this element wasn't officially deprecated in HTML 4.01, its use was discouraged in favor of the semantic elements and/or CSS. The <tt> element is obsolete in HTML 5.

• The semantic <code>, <var>, <kbd>, and <samp> elements
• The <pre> element for displaying preformatted text blocks