For <a>, href defines the location of the referenced object, expressed as a URL reference.

For the <animate>, <animateMotion>, <animateTransform>, and <set>, href defines a URL referring to the element which is the target of this animation element and which therefore will be modified over time.

The URL must point to exactly one target element which is capable of being the target of the given animation element. If the URL points to multiple target elements, if the given target element is not capable of being a target of the given animation element, or if the given target element is not part of the current document, then the animation element will not affect any target element. However, the animation element will still operate normally with regard to its timing properties. Specifically, TimeEvents are dispatched and the animation element can be used as syncbase in an identical fashion to when the URL refers to a valid target element.

If the href attribute or the deprecated xlink:href attribute is not provided, then the target element will be the immediate parent element of the current animation element. If both xlink:href and href are specified, the value of the latter attribute is used.

Refer to the descriptions of the individual animation elements for any restrictions on what types of elements can be targets of particular types of animations.

Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this attribute is the SMIL Animation specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: Specifying the animation target.

For <discard>, href defines a URL referring the target element to discard. See the definition of href on animation elements for details on identifying a target element.

Note that if the target element is not part of the current SVG document fragment, then whether the target element will be removed or not is defined by the host language.

If the href attribute is not provided, then the target element will be the immediate parent element of the <discard> element.

For <feImage>, href defines a URL referring to an image resource or to an element. If both, the xlink:href and the href attribute are specified, the latter overrides the former.

For <image>, href defines a URL referring to the image to render.

<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <image href="fxlogo.png" x="0" y="0" height="100" width="100" />
</svg>

For <linearGradient>, href defines URL referring to a template gradient element; to be valid, the reference must be to a different <linearGradient> or <radialGradient> element.

For <mpath>, href defines a URL referring to the <path> element or basic shape which defines the motion path.

For <pattern>, href defines a URL referring to a different <pattern> element within the current SVG document. Any attributes which are defined on the referenced element which are not defined on this element are inherited by this element. If this element has no children, and the referenced element does (possibly due to its own href attribute), then this element inherits the children from the referenced element. Inheritance can be indirect to an arbitrary level; thus, if the referenced element inherits attributes or children due to its own href attribute, then the current element can inherit those attributes or children. On the <pattern> element, the href attribute is animatable.

For <radialGradient>, href defines URL referring to a template gradient element; to be valid, the reference must be to a different <linearGradient> or <radialGradient> element.

For <script>, href defines a URL referring to an external resource containing the script code.

For <textPath>, href defines a URL referring to the <path> element or basic shape onto which the text will be rendered if no path attribute is provided. On the <textPath> element, the href attribute is animatable.

For <use>, href defines a URL referring to an element or fragment within an SVG document to be cloned.

The <use> element can reference an entire SVG document by specifying an href value without a fragment. Such references are taken to be referring to the root element of the referenced document.

• xlink:href