How to View the HTML Source Code in Internet Explorer

A single keystroke reveals a web page's raw HTML

By
Jennifer Kyrnin
Jennifer Kyrnin
Writer
  • University of California
  • University of Washington

Jennifer Kyrnin is a professional web developer who assists others in learning web design, HTML, CSS, and XML.

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Updated on December 19, 2021

What to Know

  • In browsers like Internet Explorer, press Ctrl+U to access the HTML source code of a website.
  • Some browsers may open source code in a new tab, but not all will.

Although the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser has long been superseded by Microsoft Edge, this venerable browser, which is now on version 11, still makes an appearance, usually in corporate environments where legacy web-based software was hard-coded for IE support.

How to Display HTML Code

With Internet Explorer, as with most browsers including Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, press the Ctrl+U keyboard shortcut to reveal the source of the web page.

Internet Explorer 11 display source window

The source is a fancy way of saying that the browser will display the HTML that powers the page rather than rendering the page on your behalf.

Most browsers display the source in a new tab. However, IE 11 renders the source in a menu bar along the bottom of the page. The Developer Tools screen includes a Debugger tool that shows the raw HTML in a panel.

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Your Citation
Kyrnin, Jennifer. "How to View the HTML Source Code in Internet Explorer." ThoughtCo, Dec. 20, 2021, thoughtco.com/view-html-source-in-explorer-3464080. Kyrnin, Jennifer. (2021, December 20). How to View the HTML Source Code in Internet Explorer. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/view-html-source-in-explorer-3464080 Kyrnin, Jennifer. "How to View the HTML Source Code in Internet Explorer." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/view-html-source-in-explorer-3464080 (accessed June 4, 2023).
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