Overview
A form consists of a group of related fields. You can customize the fields with components such as text field, range field, and checkbox field. You can also pass in default values.
Form is a wrapper that does not render anything itself. Instead, it passes props and information down into the <form> element and its children. This includes information about whether the form is dirty, disabled, reset or submitting.
Basic example
<form>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="exampleInputEmail1" class="form-label">Email address</label>
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="exampleInputEmail1" aria-describedby="emailHelp" />
<div id="emailHelp" class="form-text">We'll never share your email with anyone else.</div>
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="exampleInputPassword1" class="form-label">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="exampleInputPassword1" />
</div>
<div class="mb-3 form-check">
<input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" id="exampleCheck1" checked />
<label class="form-check-label" for="exampleCheck1">Always sign in on this device</label>
</div>
<div class="text-end">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-subtle me-2">Cancel</button>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</div>
</form>Form label
A form label should use either the <label> or <legend> elements with the class .form-label.
<form>
<label class="form-label" for="inputUsername">Username</label>
<input class="form-control" type="text" id="inputUsername" />
</form>Form text
Block-level or inline-level form text can be created using .form-text.
Form text below inputs can be styled with .form-text. If a block-level element will be used, a top margin is added for easy spacing from the inputs above.
<label for="inputPassword5" class="form-label">Password</label>
<input type="password" id="inputPassword5" class="form-control" aria-describedby="passwordHelpBlock">
<div id="passwordHelpBlock" class="form-text">
Your password must be 8-20 characters long.
</div>Inline text can use any typical inline HTML element (be it a <span>, <small>, or something else) with nothing more than the .form-text class.
<div class="row g-3 align-items-center">
<div class="col-auto">
<label for="inputPassword6" class="col-form-label">Password</label>
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<input type="password" id="inputPassword6" class="form-control"
aria-describedby="passwordHelpInline" />
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<span id="passwordHelpInline" class="form-text">Must be 8-20 characters long.</span>
</div>
</div>Associating form text with form controls
Form text should be explicitly associated with the form control it relates to using the aria-describedby attribute. This will ensure that assistive technologies—such as screen readers—will announce this form text when the user focuses or enters the control.
Form grid
More complex forms can be built using our grid classes. Use these for form layouts that require multiple columns, varied widths, and additional alignment options.
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="First name" aria-label="First name">
</div>
<div class="col">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Last name" aria-label="Last name">
</div>
</div>Gutters
By adding gutter modifier classes, you can have control over the gutter width in as well the inline as block direction.
<div class="row g-5">
<div class="col">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="First name" aria-label="First name">
</div>
<div class="col">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Last name" aria-label="Last name">
</div>
</div>Horizontal form
Create horizontal forms with the grid by adding the .row class to form groups and using the .col-*-* classes to specify the width of your labels and controls. Be sure to add .col-form-label to your <label>s as well so they’re vertically centered with their associated form controls.
At times, you maybe need to use margin or padding utilities to create that perfect alignment you need. For example, we’ve removed the padding-top on our stacked radio inputs label to better align the text baseline.
<form>
<div class="row mb-3">
<label for="inputEmail3" class="col-sm-2 col-form-label">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="inputEmail3">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row mb-3">
<label for="inputPassword3" class="col-sm-2 col-form-label">Password</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="inputPassword3">
</div>
</div>
<fieldset class="row mb-3">
<legend class="col-form-label col-sm-2 pt-0">Radios</legend>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="gridRadios" id="gridRadios1" value="option1" checked>
<label class="form-check-label" for="gridRadios1">
First radio
</label>
</div>
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="gridRadios" id="gridRadios2" value="option2">
<label class="form-check-label" for="gridRadios2">
Second radio
</label>
</div>
<div class="form-check disabled">
<input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="gridRadios" id="gridRadios3" value="option3" disabled>
<label class="form-check-label" for="gridRadios3">
Third disabled radio
</label>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="row mb-3">
<div class="col-sm-10 offset-sm-2">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="gridCheck1">
<label class="form-check-label" for="gridCheck1">
Example checkbox
</label>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Sign in</button>
</form>Label sizing
Be sure to use .col-form-label-sm or .col-form-label-lg to your <label>s or <legend>s to correctly follow the size of .form-control-lg and .form-control-sm.
<div class="row mb-3">
<label for="colFormLabelSm" class="col-sm-2 col-form-label col-form-label-sm">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="email" class="form-control form-control-sm" id="colFormLabelSm" placeholder="col-form-label-sm">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row mb-3">
<label for="colFormLabel" class="col-sm-2 col-form-label">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="colFormLabel" placeholder="col-form-label">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<label for="colFormLabelLg" class="col-sm-2 col-form-label col-form-label-lg">Email</label>
<div class="col-sm-10">
<input type="email" class="form-control form-control-lg" id="colFormLabelLg" placeholder="col-form-label-lg">
</div>
</div>Inline forms
Use the .row-cols-* classes to create responsive horizontal layouts. By adding gutter modifier classes, we’ll have gutters in horizontal and vertical directions. On narrow mobile viewports, the .col-12 helps stack the form controls and more. The .align-items-center aligns the form elements to the middle, making the .form-checkbox align properly.
<form class="row row-cols-lg-auto g-3 align-items-center">
<div class="col-12">
<label class="visually-hidden" for="inlineFormInputGroupUsername">Username</label>
<div class="input-group">
<div class="input-group-text">@</div>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="inlineFormInputGroupUsername" placeholder="Username">
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-12">
<label class="visually-hidden" for="inlineFormSelectPref">Preference</label>
<select class="form-select" id="inlineFormSelectPref">
<option selected>Choose...</option>
<option value="1">One</option>
<option value="2">Two</option>
<option value="3">Three</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="col-12">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="inlineFormCheck">
<label class="form-check-label" for="inlineFormCheck">
Remember me
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-12">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</div>
</form>Column sizing
As shown in the previous examples, our grid system allows you to place any number of .cols within a .row. They’ll split the available width equally between them. You may also pick a subset of your columns to take up more or less space, while the remaining .cols equally split the rest, with specific column classes like .col-sm-7.
<div class="row g-3">
<div class="col-sm-7">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="City" aria-label="City">
</div>
<div class="col-sm">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="State" aria-label="State">
</div>
<div class="col-sm">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Zip" aria-label="Zip">
</div>
</div>Auto-sizing
The example below uses a flexbox utility to vertically center the contents and changes .col to .col-auto so that your columns only take up as much space as needed. Put another way, the column sizes itself based on the contents.
<form class="row gy-2 gx-3 align-items-center">
<div class="col-auto">
<label class="visually-hidden" for="autoSizingInput">Name</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="autoSizingInput" placeholder="Jane Doe">
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<label class="visually-hidden" for="autoSizingInputGroup">Username</label>
<div class="input-group">
<div class="input-group-text">@</div>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="autoSizingInputGroup" placeholder="Username">
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<label class="visually-hidden" for="autoSizingSelect">Preference</label>
<select class="form-select" id="autoSizingSelect">
<option selected>Choose...</option>
<option value="1">One</option>
<option value="2">Two</option>
<option value="3">Three</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="autoSizingCheck">
<label class="form-check-label" for="autoSizingCheck">
Remember me
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</div>
</form>Utilities
Margin utilities are the easiest way to add some structure to forms. They provide basic grouping of labels, controls, optional form text, and form validation messaging. We recommend sticking to margin-bottom utilities, and using a single direction throughout the form for consistency.
Feel free to build your forms however you like, with <fieldset>s, <div>s, or nearly any other element.
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="formGroupExampleInput" class="form-label">Example label</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="formGroupExampleInput" placeholder="Example input placeholder">
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="formGroupExampleInput2" class="form-label">Another label</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="formGroupExampleInput2" placeholder="Another input placeholder">
</div>Accessibility
Ensure that all form controls have an appropriate accessible name so that their purpose can be conveyed to users of assistive technologies. The simplest way to achieve this is to use a <label> element, or—in the case of buttons—to include sufficiently descriptive text as part of the <button>...</button> content.
For situations where it’s not possible to include a visible <label> or appropriate text content, there are alternative ways of still providing an accessible name, such as:
<label>elements hidden using the .visually-hidden class- Pointing to an existing element that can act as a label using aria-labelledby
- Providing a title attribute
- Explicitly setting the accessible name on an element using aria-label
If none of these are present, assistive technologies may resort to using the placeholder attribute as a fallback for the accessible name on <input> and <textarea> elements. The examples in this section provide a few suggested, case-specific approaches.
While using visually hidden content (.visually-hidden, aria-label, and even placeholder content, which disappears once a form field has content) will benefit assistive technology users, a lack of visible label text may still be problematic for certain users. Some form of visible label is generally the best approach, both for accessibility and usability.