HTML Validation

Saw an end tag after “body” had been closed.

end tag
body

About This HTML Issue

An end tag has been found after the closing </body> tag, which breaks the expected HTML document structure.

Check out the document structure, a basic example follows:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="">
  <head>
    <title>Test</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p></p>
  </body>
</html>

Last reviewed: October 27, 2022

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Related W3C Validator Issues (11)

End tag for “body” seen, but there were unclosed elements.

body
end tag

Element “meta” is missing one or more of the following attributes: “itemprop”, “property”.

A <meta> element without a itemprop or property attributes has been found in an unexpected place.

While the <meta> element is commonly used within the <head> section of the document, it can also be used within the <body> section, for example in the context of defining microdata, as in this example:

<div itemprop="offers" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer">
  Price: $<span itemprop="price">1.00</span>
  <meta itemprop="priceCurrency" content="USD" />
</div>

When used within the <body> section, the <meta> element is required to have a itemprop or property, and a content attribute, and it can’t have a http-equiv or charset attribute.

A common cause for this issue is including a <meta> element that was intended for the <head> section (for example one containing a http-equiv attribute in the <body> , for example:

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<form>
  ...
</form>

End tag “a” violates nesting rules.

An </a> end tag has been found to violate nesting rules. <a> tags can’t include other <a> tags inside. Most probable cause is an unclosed <a> tag, like in this example:

<a href="one.html">Page 1
<a href="two.html">Page 2</a>

End tag “code” violates nesting rules.

End tag had attributes.

End tags in HTML must not have any attributes.

According to the HTML specification, only start tags (also called opening tags) may contain attributes, while end tags must appear as a plain </tagname> with nothing else.

For example, this is invalid and will trigger the error:

<p>Welcome to the site.</p class="welcome">

Correct code removes the attribute from the end tag:

<p>Welcome to the site.</p>

If you need the element to have an attribute, only include it in the start tag:

<p class="welcome">Welcome to the site.</p>

End tag “i” violates nesting rules.

End tag “i” violates nesting rules because the closing </i> does not match the most recently opened still-unclosed inline element, causing mis-nested tags.

HTML requires elements to be properly nested in a stack-like order: last opened, first closed. Inline elements like the i element (for idiomatic text), em, strong, a, and span must not overlap. When you open i and then open b, you must close b before closing i. Mis-nesting often happens around links or emphasis tags, e.g., i inside a but closed outside. The i element is purely presentational/idiomatic; consider em for emphasis or CSS with font-style: italic;, but whichever you use, keep the nesting consistent.

Common patterns that trigger the error:

Overlapping inline elements: i … b … </i> … </b>
Closing order mismatch across a, span, em, strong, i
Copy/paste around icons or screen-reader text

Fix by reordering the tags so they close in reverse order of opening, or by merging styles into one element to avoid overlaps.

HTML Examples

Incorrect (reproduces the validator error)

<p>
  <a href="/about"><i>About <strong>Us</i></strong></a>
</p>

Correct (properly nested)

<p>
  <a href="/about"><i>About <strong>Us</strong></i></a>
</p>

End tag X did not match the name of the current open element Y.

“meta” element between “head” and “body”.

Non-space character after body.

Placing text or non-space characters between the </body> and </html> tags is not allowed.

According to the HTML specification, the </body> tag must be immediately followed by either whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) or the closing </html> tag, with no visible content or other characters, as the body of the document must end before </body>. Any characters appearing after </body> are considered outside the document body and violate W3C compliance.

Invalid example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Example</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    Content goes here.
  </body> this is invalid
</html>

Valid example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Example</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    Content goes here.
  </body>
</html>

Ensure that nothing except optional whitespace appears after </body> and before </html> to resolve this validation issue.

Start tag “body” seen but an element of the same type was already open.

body

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