# CAPTION - Table Caption

Syntax | <CAPTION>...</CAPTION>
Attribute Specifications | ALIGN=[ top | bottom | left | right ] (caption alignment) common attributes
Contents | Inline elements
Contained in | TABLE

The CAPTION element defines a table caption. When used, CAPTION must be the first element in the TABLE. Only inline elements (e.g., STRONG) may be used within CAPTION.

A good caption should provide a short heading for the table. For simple tables, the caption can also act as an adequate summary, but for more complex tables, authors should supplement the CAPTION with a full summary, either through TABLE's SUMMARY attribute or within a paragraph outside of the TABLE. The following example features a simple table where the CAPTION provides a heading and an adequate table summary:

    <TABLE>
      <CAPTION>Common Usenet Abbreviations</CAPTION>
      <THEAD>
        <TR>
          <TH>Abbreviation</TH>

          <TH>Long Form</TH>
        </TR>
      </THEAD>
      <TBODY>
        <TR>
          <TD>AFAIK</TD>
          <TD>As Far As I Know</TD>
        </TR>
        <TR>
          <TD>IMHO</TD>
          <TD>In My Humble Opinion</TD>
        </TR>
        <TR>
          <TD>OTOH</TD>
          <TD>On The Other Hand</TD>
        </TR>
      </TBODY>
    </TABLE>

The next example uses TABLE's SUMMARY attribute to complement the CAPTION:

    <TABLE SUMMARY="This table gives the character entity reference,
                    decimal character reference, and hexadecimal character
                    reference for symbols and Greek letters.">
      <CAPTION>Symbols and Greek Letters in HTML 4.0</CAPTION>
      <COLGROUP>
      <COLGROUP SPAN=3>
      <THEAD>
        <TR>
          <TH SCOPE=col>Character</TH>
          <TH SCOPE=col>Entity</TH>
          <TH SCOPE=col>Decimal</TH>
          <TH SCOPE=col>Hex</TH>
        </TR>
      </THEAD>
      <TBODY>
        <TR>
          <TD SCOPE=row>Latin small f with hook</TD>
          <TD>&amp;fnof;</TD>
          <TD>&amp;#402;</TD>
          <TD>&amp;#x192;</TD>
        </TR>
        ...
      </TBODY>
    </TABLE>

The deprecated ALIGN attribute of CAPTION specifies the alignment of the caption relative to the table. Possible values are top (the default), bottom, left, and right.

## More Information

- CAPTION in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
- CAPTION in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
- CAPTION in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
- CAPTION in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples