How to use jQuery DataTables Plugin

Tech Area
Last updated on: January 8, 2026

In this post, We will discuss how to use jQuery DataTable in website. If you want to show data in table form on web page, then you can achieve this task using jQuery DataTable plugin.

First of all include necessary CSS and JavaScript library.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//cdn.datatables.net/2.0.3/css/dataTables.dataTables.min.css">
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdn.datatables.net/2.0.3/js/dataTables.min.js"></script>

Now create body for Table.

<body>
<table id="myTable">
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>Company</th>
    <th>Contact</th>
    <th>Country</th>
  </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
    <td>Maria Anders</td>
    <td>Germany</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
    <td>Francisco Chang</td>
    <td>Mexico</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Ernst Handel</td>
    <td>Roland Mendel</td>
    <td>Austria</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Island Trading</td>
    <td>Helen Bennett</td>
    <td>UK</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td>
    <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td>
    <td>Canada</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td>
    <td>Giovanni Rovelli</td>
    <td>Italy</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
    <td>Maria Anders</td>
    <td>Germany</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
    <td>Francisco Chang</td>
    <td>Mexico</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Ernst Handel</td>
    <td>Roland Mendel</td>
    <td>Austria</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Island Trading</td>
    <td>Helen Bennett</td>
    <td>UK</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td>
    <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td>
    <td>Canada</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>

After this, create script for initialise datatable.

<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
	$('#myTable').DataTable();
});
</script>

Source Code

Here is the full code that we have written for index.php.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
	<title>jQuery DataTables</title>
<style>
table {
  font-family: arial, sans-serif;
  border-collapse: collapse;
  width: 100%;
}

td, th {
  border: 1px solid #dddddd;
  text-align: left;
  padding: 8px;
}

tr:nth-child(even) {
  background-color: #dddddd;
}
</style>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//cdn.datatables.net/2.0.3/css/dataTables.dataTables.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<table id="myTable">
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>Company</th>
    <th>Contact</th>
    <th>Country</th>
  </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
    <td>Maria Anders</td>
    <td>Germany</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
    <td>Francisco Chang</td>
    <td>Mexico</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Ernst Handel</td>
    <td>Roland Mendel</td>
    <td>Austria</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Island Trading</td>
    <td>Helen Bennett</td>
    <td>UK</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td>
    <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td>
    <td>Canada</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti</td>
    <td>Giovanni Rovelli</td>
    <td>Italy</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Alfreds Futterkiste</td>
    <td>Maria Anders</td>
    <td>Germany</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Centro comercial Moctezuma</td>
    <td>Francisco Chang</td>
    <td>Mexico</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Ernst Handel</td>
    <td>Roland Mendel</td>
    <td>Austria</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Island Trading</td>
    <td>Helen Bennett</td>
    <td>UK</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Laughing Bacchus Winecellars</td>
    <td>Yoshi Tannamuri</td>
    <td>Canada</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdn.datatables.net/2.0.3/js/dataTables.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
	$('#myTable').DataTable();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output