<a class="external"> or <a rel="external">, which should i use ?

[leela52452]

my present code for all links is <code><a href="x.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:underline"></code>

recently i have come across  <code><a class="external"></code> for external with a favicon beside link.

however i dont want any favicon beside link. at the same time i want to specify as external link.

so which one should i use : <code><a class="external"></code> OR <q><a rel="external"></q>.

can i use for internal links also ?

Edited December 30, 2019 by leela52452
add code shortcut

[Ingolme]

The rel attribute tells machines what the purpose of your link is, it can only have specific values. The class attribute just assigns an arbitrary name or set of names to the link, it can have any value.