Form controls

Overview #

You can create form controls by adding the .form-control class to an <input> or <textarea>. You can read more about these elements on MDN: <input> and <textarea> (both links open in new tabs).

<div class="mb-3">
  <label for="example-input-1" class="form-label">Email</label>
  <input type="email" class="form-control" id="example-input-1" placeholder="name@example.com">
</div>
<div>
  <label for="example-textarea-1" class="form-label">Description</label>
  <textarea class="form-control" id="example-textarea-1" rows="3" placeholder="A short description about yourself"></textarea>
</div>

Sizing #

Create small and large form controls with the .form-control-sm and .form-control-lg classes respectively. These classes also work with the <textarea> element.

<!-- Small form control -->
<input type="text" class="form-control form-control-sm" placeholder="Example" aria-label="Small input example">

<!-- Default form control -->
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Example" aria-label="Default input example">

<!-- Large form control -->
<input type="text" class="form-control form-control-lg" placeholder="Example" aria-label="Large input example">

Disabled #

Disable a form control by adding the disabled attribute. This will change the appearance of the input, remove pointer events, and prevent focusing.

<!-- Disabled form controls -->
<div class="mb-3">
  <label for="example-input-2" class="form-label">Email</label>
  <input type="email" class="form-control" disabled id="example-input-2" value="chad@hotmail.com">
</div>
<div>
  <label for="example-textarea-2" class="form-label">Description</label>
  <textarea class="form-control" disabled id="example-textarea-2" rows="3">A pretty cool guy</textarea>
</div>

Read-only #

Add the readonly attribute to a form control to prevent modification of the value. Read-only inputs can still be focused and selected, while disabled inputs cannot.

<!-- Read-only form control -->
<input type="text" class="form-control" readonly value="Read-only example" aria-label="Read-only example">

Read-only plain text #

If you want to have readonly elements in your form styled as plain text, replace .form-control with .form-control-plaintext to remove the default form field styling and preserve the correct margin and padding.

<!-- Read-only plain text -->
<form>
  <div class="mb-2">
    <label for="example-input-3" class="visually-hidden">Email</label>
    <input type="text" readonly class="form-control-plaintext" id="example-input-3" value="steve@apple.com">
  </div>
  <div class="row g-2">
    <div class="col">
      <label for="example-input-4" class="visually-hidden">Password</label>
      <input type="password" class="form-control" id="example-input-4" placeholder="Password">
    </div>
    <div class="col-auto">
      <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Confirm</button>
    </div>
  </div>
</form>

Form text #

Block-level or inline-level form text can be created using .form-text. If a block-level element is used, a top margin is added for easy spacing from the inputs above.

<!-- Form text (block-level) -->
<label for="example-input-5" class="form-label">Password</label>
<input type="password" id="example-input-5" class="form-control" aria-labelledby="password-help-block">
<div id="password-help-block" class="form-text">
  Must be 8-20 characters long, and contain letters, numbers, and at least one special character.
</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.

<!-- Form text (inline-level) -->
<div class="row g-2 align-items-center">
  <div class="col-auto">
    <label for="example-input-6" class="col-form-label">Password</label>
  </div>
  <div class="col-auto">
    <input type="password" id="example-input-6" class="form-control" aria-labelledby="password-help-inline">
  </div>
  <div class="col-auto">
    <span id="password-help-inline" class="form-text">Must be 8-20 characters long.</span>
  </div>
</div>

File input #

Set the type="file" and add .form-control to an <input> element to create a file input. You can also add the multiple attribute to allow more than one file as the input.

<!-- File input -->
<div class="mb-3">
  <label for="example-file-input-1" class="form-label">Upload your CV</label>
  <input class="form-control" type="file" id="example-file-input-1">
</div>

<!-- Multiple file input -->
<div>
  <label for="example-file-input-2" class="form-label">Attach additional files</label>
  <input class="form-control" type="file" id="example-file-input-2" multiple>
</div>

You can also disable file inputs using the disabled attribute, and also change sizing using .form-control-sm and .form-control-lg.

<!-- Disabled file input -->
<div class="mb-3">
  <label for="example-file-input-3" class="form-label">Disabled file input</label>
  <input class="form-control" type="file" disabled id="example-file-input-3">
</div>

<!-- Small file input -->
<div class="mb-3">
  <label for="example-file-input-4" class="form-label">Small file input</label>
  <input class="form-control form-control-sm" type="file" id="example-file-input-4">
</div>

<!-- Large file input -->
<div>
  <label for="example-file-input-5" class="form-label">Large file input</label>
  <input class="form-control form-control-lg" type="file" id="example-file-input-5">
</div>

Color #

Set the type="color" and add .form-control-color to an <input> element to create a color picker input box. We use the modifier class to set fixed height values and override some inconsistencies between browsers.

<!-- Color input -->
<label for="example-color-input" class="form-label">Color picker</label>
<input type="color" class="form-control form-control-color" id="example-color-input" value="#064fd8" title="Choose your color">

Datalists #

Datalists allow you to create a group of <option> tags that can be accessed (and autocompleted) from within an <input>. These are similar to <select> elements, but come with more menu styling limitations and differences. While most browsers and operating systems include some support for <datalist> elements, their styling is inconsistent at best.

Learn more about support for datalist elements (opens in new tab).

<!-- Datalist -->
<label for="example-input-7" class="form-label">Select state</label>
<input class="form-control" list="datalist-options" id="example-input-7" placeholder="Type to search...">
<datalist id="datalist-options">
  <option value="San Francisco">
  <option value="New York">
  <option value="Seattle">
  <option value="Los Angeles">
  <option value="Chicago">
</datalist>