title: Options taxonomy:
category: docs
process:
twig: true
A traditional <select>
box contains any number of <option>
elements. Each of these is rendered as an option in the dropdown menu. Select2 preserves this behavior when initialized on a <select>
element that contains <option>
elements, converting them into its internal JSON representation:
{
"id": "value attribute" || "option text",
"text": "label attribute" || "option text",
"element": HTMLOptionElement
}
<optgroup>
elements will be converted into data objects using the following rules:
{
"text": "label attribute",
"children": [ option data object, ... ],
"element": HTMLOptGroupElement
}
Options sourced from other data sources must conform to this this same internal representation. See “The Select2 data format” for details.
In HTML, <option>
elements can be grouped by wrapping them with in an <optgroup>
element:
<select>
<optgroup label="Group Name">
<option>Nested option</option>
</optgroup>
</select>
Select2 will automatically pick these up and render them appropriately in the dropdown.
Only a single level of nesting is allowed per the HTML specification. If you nest an <optgroup>
within another <optgroup>
, Select2 will not be able to detect the extra level of nesting and errors may be triggered as a result.
Furthermore, <optgroup>
elements cannot be made selectable. This is a limitation of the HTML specification and is not a limitation that Select2 can overcome.
If you wish to create a true hierarchy of selectable options, use an <option>
instead of an <optgroup>
and change the style with CSS. Please note that this approach may be considered “less accessible” as it relies on CSS styling, rather than the semantic meaning of <optgroup>
, to generate the effect.
Select2 will correctly handle disabled options, both with data coming from a standard select (when the disabled
attribute is set) and from remote sources, where the object has disabled: true
set.
<select class="js-example-disabled-results">
<option value="one">First</option>
<option value="two" disabled="disabled">Second (disabled)</option>
<option value="three">Third</option>
</select>