Buttons

Use Bootstrap’s custom button styles for actions in forms, dialogs, and more with support for multiple sizes, states, and more.

Examples

Bootstrap includes several predefined button styles, each serving its own semantic purpose, with a few extras thrown in for more control.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-red">Red</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue">Blue</button>

<button type="button" class="btn btn-success">Success</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-danger">Danger</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-warning">Warning</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-info">Info</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-light">Light</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-dark">Dark</button>
Conveying meaning to assistive technologies

Using color to add meaning only provides a visual indication, which will not be conveyed to users of assistive technologies – such as screen readers. Ensure that information denoted by the color is either obvious from the content itself (e.g. the visible text), or is included through alternative means, such as additional text hidden with the .sr-only class.

Outline Buttons

In need of a button, but not the hefty background colors they bring? Replace the default modifier classes with the .btn-outline-* ones to remove all background images and colors on any button.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-red">Red</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-blue">Blue</button>

<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-success">Success</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-danger">Danger</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-warning">Warning</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-info">Info</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-light">Light</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-dark">Dark</button>

For outline buttons on a dark background color, use the .btn-outline-white.

<div class="bg-dark p-3">
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-white">White</button>
</div>
<div class="bg-red p-3">
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-white">White</button>
</div>
<div class="bg-blue p-3">
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-white">White</button>
</div>

Sizes

Fancy larger or smaller buttons? Add .btn-lg or .btn-sm for additional sizes.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-red btn-lg">Large button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue btn-lg">Large button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-red btn-sm">Small button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue btn-sm">Small button</button>

Create block level buttons—those that span the full width of a parent—by adding .btn-block.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-red btn-lg btn-block">Block level button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue btn-lg btn-block">Block level button</button>

Arrow Buttons

Add an arrow to any button style by adding the .btn-arrow class.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-red btn-arrow">Large Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-blue btn-arrow">Large Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-info btn-arrow">Large Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-outline-success btn-arrow">Large Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-red btn-arrow">Regular Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue btn-arrow">Regular Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-info btn-arrow">Regular Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-success btn-arrow">Regular Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-red btn-arrow">Small Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-blue btn-arrow">Small Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-info btn-arrow">Small Arrow Button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-outline-success btn-arrow">Small Arrow Button</button>

Button Tags

The .btn classes are designed to be used with the <button> element. However, you can also use these classes on <a> or <input> elements (though some browsers may apply a slightly different rendering).

When using button classes on <a> elements that are used to trigger in-page functionality (like collapsing content), rather than linking to new pages or sections within the current page, these links should be given a role="button" to appropriately convey their purpose to assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Link
<a class="btn btn-red" href="#" role="button">Link</a>
<button class="btn btn-red" type="submit">Button</button>
<input class="btn btn-red" type="button" value="Input">
<input class="btn btn-red" type="submit" value="Submit">
<input class="btn btn-red" type="reset" value="Reset">

Active State

Buttons will appear pressed when active with a darker background, darker border, and, when shadows are enabled, an inset shadow. There’s no need to add a class to <button>s as they use a pseudo-class. However, you can still force the same active appearance with .active (and include the aria-pressed=“true” attribute) should you need to replicate the state programmatically.

<a href="#" class="btn btn-red btn-lg active" role="button" aria-pressed="true">Red link</a>
<a href="#" class="btn btn-blue btn-lg active" role="button" aria-pressed="true">Link</a>

Disabled State

Make buttons look inactive by adding the disabled boolean attribute to any <button> element.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-red" disabled>Red button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-blue btn-lg" disabled>Button</button>

Disabled buttons using the <a> element behave a bit different:

  • <a>s don’t support the disabled attribute, so you must add the .disabled class to make it visually appear disabled.
  • Some future-friendly styles are included to disable all pointer-events on anchor buttons. In browsers which support that property, you won’t see the disabled cursor at all.
  • Disabled buttons using <a> should include the aria-disabled="true" attribute to indicate the state of the element to assistive technologies.
  • Disabled buttons using <a> should not include the href attribute.
<a class="btn btn-red btn-lg disabled" role="button" aria-disabled="true">Red link</a>
<a class="btn btn-blue btn-lg disabled" role="button" aria-disabled="true">Link</a>

To cover cases where you have to keep the href attribute on a disabled link, the .disabled class uses pointer-events: none to try to disable the link functionality of <a>s. Note that this CSS property is not yet standardized for HTML, but all modern browsers support it. In addition, even in browsers that do support pointer-events: none, keyboard navigation remains unaffected, meaning that sighted keyboard users and users of assistive technologies will still be able to activate these links. So to be safe, in addition to aria-disabled="true", also include a tabindex="-1" attribute on these links to prevent them from receiving keyboard focus, and use custom JavaScript to disable their functionality altogether.

<a href="#" class="btn btn-red btn-lg disabled" tabindex="-1" role="button" aria-disabled="true">Red link</a>
<a href="#" class="btn btn-blue btn-lg disabled" tabindex="-1" role="button" aria-disabled="true">Link</a>

Button Plugin

Do more with buttons. Control button states or create groups of buttons for more components like toolbars.

Toggle States

Add data-toggle="button" to toggle a button’s active state. If you’re pre-toggling a button, you must manually add the .active class and aria-pressed="true" to the <button>.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-red" data-toggle="button" aria-pressed="false">
  Single toggle
</button>

Checkbox and Radio Buttons

Bootstrap’s .button styles can be applied to other elements, such as <label>s, to provide checkbox or radio style button toggling. Add data-toggle="buttons" to a .btn-group containing those modified buttons to enable their toggling behavior via JavaScript and add .btn-group-toggle to style the <input>s within your buttons. Note that you can create single input-powered buttons or groups of them.

The checked state for these buttons is only updated via click event on the button. If you use another method to update the input—e.g., with <input type="reset"> or by manually applying the input’s checked property—you’ll need to toggle .active on the <label> manually.

Note that pre-checked buttons require you to manually add the .active class to the input’s <label>.

<div class="btn-group-toggle" data-toggle="buttons">
  <label class="btn btn-blue active">
    <input type="checkbox" checked> Checked
  </label>
</div>
<div class="btn-group btn-group-toggle" data-toggle="buttons">
  <label class="btn btn-blue active">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option1" checked> Active
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-blue">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option2"> Radio
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-blue">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option3"> Radio
  </label>
</div>

Methods

Method Description
$().button('toggle') Toggles push state. Gives the button the appearance that it has been activated.
$().button('dispose') Destroys an element’s button.