<p>

BrandonDusch's avatar
BrandonDusch
BrandonDusch's avatar
BrandonDusch
Published Aug 3, 2021Updated Feb 12, 2023
Contribute to Docs

The <p> element, also known as the paragraph element, contains and displays a block of text. They are among the most common text-based HTML elements.

They are block-level, which means it is as wide as its parent element and as tall as its content’s height. In addition, browsers automatically add a single blank line before and after each <p> element.

Syntax

The paragraph element is enclosed by an opening <p> tag and a closing </p> tag:

<p>This is some text in a paragraph.</p>

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <body>
    <div style="width: 50%; margin: auto; border: 2px solid black;">
      <p style="padding: 10px; font-family: system-ui;">
        It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he
        fell madly in love with him. Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain
        in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice.
      </p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Paragraph example

Accessibility with Paragraphs

Paragraphs are relatively easy for accessibility devices, such as screen readers, to find and process. The more <p> elements, the better.

All contributors

Looking to contribute?

Learn HTML on Codecademy

Career path

Front-End Engineer

Front-end engineers work closely with designers to make websites beautiful, functional, and fast.
Includes 34 Courses
With Professional Certification
Beginner Friendly
124 Lessons
Free course

Learn HTML

Start at the beginning by learning HTML basics — an important foundation for building and editing web pages.
Beginner Friendly
6 Lessons