Attribute for <BUTTON ...>
TYPE = BUTTON | SUBMIT | RESET

TYPE indicates that the button is one of three types:

• BUTTON (the default) creates a button in the same way <INPUT TYPE=BUTTON> does. A button of this type requires a script for it to do anything.
• SUBMIT creates a submit button like <INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT>
• RESET creates a submit button like <INPUT TYPE=RESET>

This code:

<FORM ACTION="../cgi-bin/mycgi.pl" NAME="application">
application date: <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME="appdate" SIZE=10>
<BUTTON 
    TYPE=BUTTON 
    onClick="document.application.appdate.value=today()"><I>today</I></BUTTON><P>
<BUTTON TYPE=RESET><FONT COLOR=RED>Reset Form</FONT></BUTTON> 
<BUTTON TYPE=SUBMIT><STRONG>Send It!</STRONG></BUTTON>
</FORM>

gives us this form (you can also see the today() script in this page):

application date: today

Reset Form Send It!