HTML Reference

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META

Provides information about an HTML document to browsers, search engines, and other applications. For instance, META HTTP-EQUIV=REFRESH CONTENT=2 reloads a document every two seconds. Setting the HTTP-EQUIV= attribute to REFRESH gives the instruction to reload. The CONTENT= attribute specifies the time in seconds that the page refreshes. You can specify any URL in the element. If no URL is specified, the current document is reloaded.

CHARSET=charset: Describes the character set to be used with the document. The preferred usage is the HTTP-EQUIV= attribute.
CONTENT=description: Defines the meta-information content to be associated with the given name or HTTP response header. Can be used with the URL= attribute and a date and time specification to reload a document at a specified interval. See the Client Pull section in the Author's Guide or the examples that follow.
HTTP-EQUIV=response: Binds the element to an HTTP response header. This information is then used based on the application reading the header (examples follow). This attribute is the preferred usage for describing a character set.
NAME=description: Contains a description of the document.
URL=url: Indicates the document's URL.

Examples

If the document contains:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires"
      CONTENT="Tue, 04 Dec 1996 21:29:02 GMT">
<meta http-equiv="Keywords" CONTENT="HTML, Reference">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Reply-to"
      content="anybody@microsoft.com">
<Meta Http-equiv="Keywords" CONTENT="HTML Reference Guide">

then the server would include the following header fields:

Expires: Tue, 04 Dec 1996 21:29:02 GMT

Keywords: HTML, Reference

Reply-to: anybody@microsoft.com

as part of the HTTP response to a GET or HEAD request for that document.

The following example shows the correct usage for describing a character set. For more information, see the Character Sets section in the Author's Guide.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" 
  CONTENT="text/html; charset=Windows-1251">

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT=2>
<TITLE>Reload Document</TITLE>
</HEAD> 
<BODY> 
<P>This document will be reloaded every two seconds.
</BODY>
</HTML>

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="5; URL=http://www.sample.com/next.htm"> 
<TITLE>Load Next Document</TITLE>
</HEAD> 
<BODY> 
<P>After five seconds have elapsed, the document 
"http://www.sample.com/next.htm" will be loaded.
</BODY>
</HTML>

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