# The HTML a tag (links)

> Learn how to create links with the HTML a tag and its href attribute, the difference between absolute and relative URLs, and how to open links in a new tab.

Author: Flavio Copes | Published: 2019-08-11 | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/html-links/

Links are defined using the `a` tag. The link destination is set via its `href` attribute.

Example:

```html
<a href="https://flaviocopes.com">click here</a>
```

Between the starting and closing tag we have the link text.

The above example is an absolute URL. Links also work with relative URLs:

```html
<a href="/test">click here</a>
```

In this case, when clicking the link the user is moved to the `/test` URL on the current origin.

Be careful with the `/` character. If omitted, instead of starting from the origin, the browser will just add the `test` string to the current URL.

Example, I'm on the page `https://flaviocopes.com/axios/` and I have these links:

- `/test` once clicked brings me to `https://flaviocopes.com/test`
- `test` once clicked brings me to `https://flaviocopes.com/axios/test`

Link tags can include other things inside them, not just text. For example, images:

```html
<a href="https://flaviocopes.com">
	<img src="test.jpg">
</a>
```

or any other elements, except other `<a>` tags.


If you want to open the link in a new tab, you can use the `target` attribute:

```html
<a href="https://flaviocopes.com" target="_blank">open in new tab</a>
```