Using required with radio input in HTML: A How-To Guide

When creating forms in HTML, it's important to ensure that users provide all necessary information. One way to accomplish this is by using the "required" attribute on form inputs. However, when it comes to radio inputs, there are a few extra steps to take.

First, it's important to understand that the "required" attribute only works on inputs with a "value" attribute. So, in order to use it with radio inputs, each option needs to have a value assigned to it.

Here's an example:

<form>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" required>
    Male
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female" required>
    Female
  </label>
  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

In this example, we have two radio inputs for gender, each with a value assigned to it. We've also added the "required" attribute to each input. This means that the user must select one of the options before submitting the form.

It's also important to note that the "required" attribute doesn't work on radio inputs if none of the options have a "checked" attribute. So, if you want to make sure that one of the options is selected by default, you can add the "checked" attribute to one of the inputs.

Here's an example:

<form>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" required checked>
    Male
  </label>
  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female" required>
    Female
  </label>
  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

In this example, we've added the "checked" attribute to the male input, which means that it will be selected by default. However, the "required" attribute still applies, so the user must select one of the options in order to submit the form.

Overall, using the "required" attribute with radio inputs is fairly straightforward, as long as you remember to assign a value to each option and, if necessary, add the "checked" attribute to one of the inputs.