HTML Validation

Bad value “” for attribute “autocomplete” on element “input”: Must not be empty.

About This HTML Issue

An empty string is not a valid value for the autocomplete attribute on an input element.

The autocomplete attribute controls whether the browser can autofill input values, and it requires a valid, non-empty value according to the HTML specification. Acceptable values are on, off, or specific autocomplete tokens such as name, email, username, etc. Leaving it empty, like autocomplete="", causes validation errors.

Incorrect example:

<input type="text" name="username" autocomplete="">

Correct examples: Enable browser autocomplete:

<input type="text" name="username" autocomplete="on">

Disable browser autocomplete:

<input type="text" name="username" autocomplete="off">

Use a specific token (recommended for forms that collect particular data):

<input type="email" name="useremail" autocomplete="email">

Learn more:

Last reviewed: July 23, 2025

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Reading time

1 min read

Category

HTML Validation

Engine

W3C Validator

Last reviewed

July 23, 2025

Resources

Related W3C Validator Issues

Bad value “tel-national” for attribute “autocomplete” on element “input”: The autofill field name “tel-national” is not allowed in this context.

The value tel-national cannot be used on the attribute autocomplete of an <input> element of type tel. Either change to type="text", or use autocomplete="tel". Examples:

<!-- Using autocomplete "tel-national" on type "tel" is invalid -->

<input name="phone1" type="tel" autocomplete="tel-national" />

<!--Using autocomplete "tel-national" on type "text" is valid -->

<input name="phone2" type="text" autocomplete="tel-national" />

<!--Using autocomplete "tel" on type "tel" is valid -->

<input name="phone3" type="tel" autocomplete="tel" />

Bad value “street-address” for attribute “autocomplete” on element “input”: The autofill field name “street-address” is not allowed in this context.

The value street-address cannot be used for attribute autocomplete on an <input> element. As this kind of autofill is oriented for multi-line inputs (as in the expected format for addresses), consider using a <textarea> element instead, like in this example:

<textarea name="address" autocomplete="street-address"></textarea>

An “input” element with a “type” attribute whose value is “hidden” must not have an “autocomplete” attribute whose value is “on” or “off”.

The autocomplete attribute is used to control if the browser can provide assistance in filling out form field values, and it only makes sense for visible, not hidden, inputs.

It is available on <input> elements that take a text or numeric value as input, <textarea> elements, <select> elements, and <form> elements.

To fix this issue, you can remove the autocomplete attribute from the input element with type=hidden. Here is an example:

<!-- Wrong code -->

<input type="hidden" name="phone" value="12345" autcomplete="off">

<!-- Correct code -->

<input type="hidden" name="phone" value="12345">

Bad value “company” for attribute “autocomplete” on element “input”: The string “company” is not a valid autofill field name.

Bad value “contact” for attribute “autocomplete” on element “input”: The string “contact” is not a valid autofill field name.

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