<defs>

The <defs> element is used to store graphical objects that will be used at a later time. Objects created inside a <defs> element are not rendered directly. To display them you have to reference them (with a <use> element for example).

Graphical objects can be referenced from anywhere, however, defining these objects inside of a <defs> element promotes understandability of the SVG content and is beneficial to the overall accessibility of the document.

Example

html,
body,
svg {
  height: 100%;
}

html

<svg viewBox="0 0 10 10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <!-- Some graphical objects to use -->
  <defs>
    <circle id="myCircle" cx="0" cy="0" r="5" />

    <linearGradient id="myGradient" gradientTransform="rotate(90)">
      <stop offset="20%" stop-color="gold" />
      <stop offset="90%" stop-color="red" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>

  <!-- using my graphical objects -->
  <use x="5" y="5" href="#myCircle" fill="url('#myGradient')" />
</svg>

Attributes

Global attributes

Core Attributes: Most notably: id lang
Styling Attributes: class, style
Event Attributes: Global event attributes, Document element event attributes, Graphical event attributes
Presentation Attributes: Most notably: clip-path, clip-rule, color, color-interpolation, color-rendering, cursor, display, fill, fill-opacity, fill-rule, filter, mask, opacity, pointer-events, shape-rendering, stroke, stroke-dasharray, stroke-dashoffset, stroke-linecap, stroke-linejoin, stroke-miterlimit, stroke-opacity, stroke-width, transform, vector-effect, visibility

Usage notes

Categories	Container element, Structural element
Permitted content	Any number of the following elements, in any order: Animation elements Descriptive elements Shape elements Structural elements Gradient elements `<a>`, `<clipPath>`, `<color-profile>`, `<cursor>`, `<filter>`, `<font>`, `<font-face>`, `<foreignObject>`, `<image>`, `<marker>`, `<mask>`, `<pattern>`, `<script>`, `<style>`, `<switch>`, `<text>`, `<view>`

Specifications

Specification
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 # Head

Browser compatibility

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