Web: HTML - Select vs Datalist

Just found an interesting tag - , which allows to provide the list with options for user to select.

I remember while building my web application I used select options and generated the list from some source.

How it works with :

<form>
  <div>
    <input name="country" list="countries" placeholder="Country">
    <datalist id="countries">
      <option value="Afghanistan">
      <option value="Albania">
      <option value="Algeria">
      <option value="Andorra">
      ...
    </datalist>
  </div>
</form> 

Found the explanation:

• element - user must select one of the provided options
• element - it’s only the list with suggestions, but user can enter anything

With <datalist> I can enter anything in there:

So, <select> = Requirement vs <datalist> = Suggestion