Can I make a <button> not submit a form?

I've got a form, with 2 buttons

<a href="index.html"><button>Cancel changes</button></a>

<button type="submit">Submit</button>

I use jQuery UI's button on them too, simply like this

$('button').button();

However, the first button also submits the form. I would have thought that if it didn't have the type="submit", it wouldn't.

Obviously I could do this

$('button[type!=submit]').click(function(event) { event.stopPropagation(); });

But is there a way I can stop that back button from submitting the form without JavaScript intervention?

To be honest, I used a button only so I could style it with jQuery UI. I tried calling button() on the link and it didn't work as expected (looked quite ugly!).

Solution 1:

The default value for the type attribute of button elements is "submit". Set it to type="button" to produce a button that doesn't submit the form.

<button type="button">Submit</button>

In the words of the HTML Standard: "Does nothing."

Solution 2:

The button element has a default type of submit.

You can make it do nothing by setting a type of button:

<button type="button">Cancel changes</button>

Solution 3:

Just use good old HTML:

<input type="button" value="Submit" />

Wrap it as the subject of a link, if you so desire:

<a href="http://somewhere.com"><input type="button" value="Submit" /></a>

Or if you decide you want javascript to provide some other functionality:

<input type="button" value="Cancel" onclick="javascript: someFunctionThatCouldIncludeRedirect();"/>

Solution 4:

<form onsubmit="return false;">
   ...
</form>

Solution 5:

Yes, you can make a button not submit a form by adding an attribute of type of value button: <button type="button"><button>