What happens on submit

A <form> wraps a set of controls: text fields, checkboxes, buttons. It is the envelope the data travels in.

When the form is submitted, the browser collects every control that has a name, pairs each name with its value, and sends those pairs to the action URL using the method.

With method="get", the pairs go into the URL as a query string: a ? followed by name=value pairs, joined with &.

<form action="/search" method="get">
  <label for="q">Search</label>
  <input id="q" name="q">
  <button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>

<!-- typing “hammer” sends you to: /search?q=hammer -->

• action → where the data goes. Leave it out and the form posts to the current page.
• method → how it travels: get or post.
• A GET form rebuilds the query string from its fields: anything already after the ? in action is thrown away. Extra values belong in the form itself, for example as <input type="hidden" name="lang" value="en">.