---
name: Input purpose
slug: input-purpose
category: accessibility
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-25T00:00:00.000Z
definition: Machine readable autocomplete tokens on personal fields, which let
  browsers autofill and let personalisation tools add familiar icons or wording.
aliases:
  - name: autocomplete attribute
    source: html
  - name: autofill token
    source: community
  - name: identify input purpose
    source: wcag
tags:
  - forms
  - wcag
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - address-autocomplete
    - inline-autocomplete
    - redundant-entry
    - virtual-keyboard
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso:
    - autofill
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "WCAG 2.2: Identify Input Purpose"
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#identify-input-purpose
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: telling the browser what a field is actually for
---

A label tells a person what a field wants. An `autocomplete` token tells software the same thing,
from a fixed list: `name`, `email`, `tel`, `postal-code`, `cc-number`, `bday`, and a few dozen more.
WCAG 2.2 makes the tokens a requirement at AA for fields collecting information about the user,
which is a rare success criterion where the conforming markup is one attribute and the benefit is
immediate.

The obvious payoff is autofill. A form with the tokens declared fills from the profile the browser
already holds, which is worth most to the people for whom typing is expensive: anyone using a
switch, an on-screen keyboard, voice input, or working through a tremor. The less obvious payoff is
personalisation. Because the token names a known concept rather than an arbitrary string, an
assistive tool can restate the field in its user's own terms: swap the wording, or put a familiar
pictogram beside it, which is the whole point of the criterion sitting under the "adaptable"
guideline rather than under a text alternative one.

The tokens do not replace anything. A field still needs its own visible label and its
[label association](/label-association), because a token is not a name and a screen reader does not
speak it. Nor is it the same feature as
[address autocomplete](/address-autocomplete), which is a live lookup service suggesting whole
addresses inside one field. The token is a static declaration of what this field means; whether the
browser then offers a saved value, a lookup, or nothing at all is the browser's business.

Two practical notes. Get the token right or leave it off, since a field labelled "Company" that
declares `name` will be filled with a person's name forever, and a wrong token is worse than a
missing one. And treat the whole thing as a first line of defence against
[redundant entry](/redundant-entry): the more of a checkout the browser can complete from what it
already knows, the less of your form is a memory test.