Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 6, 2026

Combo box

A combo box is a commonly used graphical user interface widget. Traditionally, it is a combination of a drop-down list or list box and a single-line editable textbox, allowing the user to either type a value directly or select a value from the list. The term "combo box" is sometimes used to mean "drop-down list". In both Java and .NET, "combo box" is not a synonym for "drop-down list". Definition of "drop down list" is sometimes clarified with terms such as "non-editable combo box" to distinguish it from "combo box".

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Jun 6, 2026
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A generic combo box source ↗

A combo box is a commonly used graphical user interface widget (or control). Traditionally, it is a combination of a drop-down list or list box and a single-line editable textbox, allowing the user to either type a value directly or select a value from the list. The term "combo box" is sometimes used to mean "drop-down list".1 In both Java and .NET, "combo box" is not a synonym for "drop-down list".23 Definition of "drop down list" is sometimes clarified with terms such as "non-editable combo box" (or something similar) to distinguish it from "combo box".

To make a combo box like shown in the image above in HTML, one can write the following code(if using a modern browser):

<input list="comboboxlist" value="Something else">

<datalist id="comboboxlist">
  <option value="List item 1">
  <option value="List item 2">
  <option value="List item 3">
  <option value="List item 4">
</datalist>
See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Combo boxes in forms on Web pages". IT and communication. February 15, 2007. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  2. "How to Use Combo Boxes (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Using Swing Components)". Docs.oracle.com. 2012-02-28. Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  3. "ComboBox Class (System.Windows.Controls)". Msdn.microsoft.com. 2014-06-20. Archived from the original on 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
External links