HTML DOM Form enctype Property

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# Form enctype Property

Form Object

## Definition and Usage

The enctype property sets or returns the value of the enctype attribute in a form.

The enctype attribute specifies how form-data should be encoded before sending it to the server.

The form-data is encoded to "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" by default. This means that all characters are encoded before they are sent to the server (spaces are converted to "+" symbols, and special characters are converted to ASCII HEX values).

## Syntax

formObject.enctype=value

The enctype property can have one of the following values:

Value | Description
--- | ---
application/x-www-form-urlencoded | All characters are encoded before sent (this is default)
multipart/form-data | No characters are encoded. This value is required when you are using forms that have a file upload control
text/plain | Spaces are converted to "+" symbols, but no special characters are encoded

## Browser Support

The enctype property is supported in all major browsers.

Note: Internet Explorer and Safari returns "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" even if no enctype attribute is defined (this is the default value), while the other browsers return nothing.

## Example

Return how form-data should be encoded before sending it to the server:

<html>
<body>
<form>
<form id="frm1" enctype="text/plain">
First name: <input type="text" name="fname" value="Donald"><br>
Last name: <input type="text" name="lname" value="Duck"><br>
</form>
<script>
document.write(document.getElementById("frm1").enctype);
</script>
</body>
</html>

The output of the script above will be:

text/plain
Try it yourself »

Form Object

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