Example
Return the HTTP header for the information in the content attribute:
var x = document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].httpEquiv;
The result of x will be:
content-type
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Definition and Usage
The httpEquiv property sets or returns an HTTP header for the information in the content attribute.
The http-equiv attribute can be used to simulate an HTTP response header.
The value of the http-equiv attribute depends on the value of the content attribute.
Note: If the name attribute is set, the http-equiv attribute should not be set.
Browser Support
The httpEquiv property is supported in all major browsers.
Syntax
Return the httpEquiv property:
metaObject.httpEquiv
Set the httpEquiv property:
metaObject.httpEquiv=HTTP-header
Some commonly used HTTP-header values are:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| content-type | Specifies the character set for the contents of the document. Tip: It is recommended to always specify the character set. Example: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> |
| default-style | Specifies the preferred style sheet to use. Example: <meta http-equiv="default-style" content="the documents preferred stylesheet"> Note: The value of the content attribute above must match the value of the ttitle attribute on a link element in the same document, or it must match the value of the title attribute on a style element in the same document. |
| refresh | Defines a time interval for the document to refresh itself.
Example: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300"> Note: The value "refresh" should be used carefully, as it takes the control of a page away from the user. Using "refresh" will cause a failure in W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. |
Return Value
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| String | Information about the HTTP response message header |
More Examples
Example
Change the value of the http-equiv and content attributes. The following example will refresh the document every 30 seconds:
document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].httpEquiv = "refresh";
document.getElementsByTagName("META")[0].content = "30";
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< Meta Object