HTML Paragraphs

HTML documents are divided into paragraphs.

The HTML <p> element defines a paragraph.

<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
                  
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HTML Display

You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed.

Large or small screens, and resized windows will create different results.

With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code.

The browser will remove extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed.

Any number of spaces, and any number of new lines, count as only one space.

<p>
This paragraph
contains a lot of lines
in the source code,
but the browser 
ignores it.
</p>

<p>
This paragraph
contains         a lot of spaces
in the source         code,
but the        browser 
ignores it.
</p>
                  
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HTML Line Breaks

The HTML <br> element defines a line break.

Use <br> if you want a line break (a new line) without starting a new paragraph:

The Poem Problem

<p>This poem will display as one line:</p>
<p>
  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  My Bonnie lies over the sea.

  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
</p>
                  
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The HTML <pre> Element

The HTML <pre> element defines preformatted text.

The text inside a <pre> element is displayed in a fixed-width font (usually Courier), and it preserves both spaces and line breaks:

<pre>
  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  My Bonnie lies over the sea.

  My Bonnie lies over the ocean.

  Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
</pre>
                  
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