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HTML 5: Is it <br>, <br/>, or <br />?

I've tried checking other answers, but I'm still confused — especially after seeing W3schools HTML 5 reference.

I thought HTML 4.01 was supposed to "allow" single-tags to just be <img> and <br>. Then XHTML came along with <img /> and <br /> (where someone said that the space is there for older browsers).

Now I'm wondering how I'm supposed to format my code when practicing HTML 5.

Is it <br>, <br/> or <br />?

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  • 9
    Well formed HTML is not XHTML. Commented Mar 22, 2018 at 13:33
  • 4
    XHTML is well-formed HTML by definition. XHTML follows the rules of XML, according to w3schools "XML is a markup language where documents must be marked up correctly (be "well-formed")... ...By combining the strengths of HTML and XML, XHTML was developed. XHTML is HTML redesigned as XML." (see w3schools.com/html/html_xhtml.asp) Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 14:44
  • 5
    HTML can be well formed, but not be valid XML. W3Schools isn't always the most authoritative reference. Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 19:32
  • 3
    <br> and <hr> are perfectly valid and well formed HTML. They are not valid XML tags. The HTML specs under HTML syntax says that void elements (like <br> or <hr>) may have a / character immediately preceding the final >. But it has no effect. It is ignored if it is there. If the / was a preferred piece of the syntax, the standard would say should rather than may. Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 20:10
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    @jmarkmurphy, I think that maybe you are unfamiliar with the term "well-formed" being a technical jargon term to refer to the requirement to the standards of XML and XHTML that all tags must have closing tags and must be nested in the proper order. <hr> and <br> do not meet the requirements of XML and XHTML because they do not have closing tags, eg: <br /> or <br></br> are valid, <br> is not valid XHTML or XML. HTML, of course, does not have the well-formed requirement so <br> and <hr> are valid in HTML only. Commented Mar 26, 2018 at 14:35

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