350px|thumb|right|Un mètre ruban
Un mètre ruban est un instrument de mesure formé d'un ruban gradué flexible et pouvant s'enrouler, ce qui rend son transport très aisé en lui permettant de tenir dans une poche. Il permet également de mesurer des surfaces courbes. La limite d'enroulement automatique est de 3 mètres. Au delà l'enroulement est à manivelle.
*Les instruments à ruban, à manivelle sont appelés décamètre (10m), double décamètre (20m), triple décamètre (30m). Il existe aussi des 50 mètres et même des 100 mètres. Ils servent à la mesure de saut ou de lancer en compétition sportive. Le ruban peut être souple (en tissu gommé) ou plus rigide (en métal). Le décamètre sert à la mesure des sauts en longueurs, le 20 mètres au triple-saut et au poids, les 50 et 100m aux lancers longs (disque, javelot, marteau). 

*Dans la confection, les mètres ruban sont en tissu ou en matière plastique, alors que les charpentiers ou les maçons utilisent un ruban métallique qui reste rigide lorsqu'il est étendu.

*Le mètre est fait pour les droitiers : le reflexe est de tenir l'outil de la main par laquelle on est le plus agile et de tirer le ruban par l'autre. Un gaucher lit donc à l'envers ou s'habitue.

350px|thumb|right|Self-retracting pocket tape measure
thumb|350px|plastic tape measure

A '''tape measure''' or '''measuring tape''' is a flexible form of imperial and metric units. Surveyors use tape measures in lengths on the order of hectometres. It is a common measuring tool. Its flexibility allows for a measure of great length to be easily carried in pocket or toolkit and permits one to measure around curves or corners.

Tape measures intended for use in tailoring or dressmaking were historically made from a flexible cloth or plastic. Today, measuring tapes made for sewing are made of fiberglass, which will not tear or stretch.(Readers Digest 10)  Measuring tapes designed for carpentry or construction often use a stiff, curved metallic ribbon that can remain stiff and straight when extended, but retracts into a coil for convenient storage. This type of tape measure will have a floating tang on the end to aid measuring. The tang will float a distance equal to its thickness, to provide both inside and outside measurements that are accurate. A tape measure of 25 or even 1000 feet can wind into a relatively small container.

One little-known feature on most tape measures is a small black diamond that appears every 19.2 inches, known as the 'black truss' markings. This is used to mark out an equal five trusses per standard eight-foot sheet of building material. (8 feet, or 96 inches, divided by 5 is 19.2 inches.)<ref>asktooltalk.com.[http://www.asktooltalk.com/home/qanda/faq/tools/tapemeasure.htm Text] accessed 8 April 2007.</ref>

The design on which most modern spring tape measures are built was patented by New Haven, Connecticut resident Alvin J. Fellows on 14 July 1868. According to the text of his patent, Fellows' tape measure was only an improvement on other versions previously designed.<ref>Letters Patent No. 79,965. [http://www.todayinsci.com/F/Fellows_Alvin/FellowsTapeMeasurePatent.htm Text] accessed 26 February 2006.</ref>

The spring tape measure has been extant since Fellows' patent, but did not come into wide usage until the early 1940s, when it slowly began to supplant the folding wood carpenter's ruler. Today it is ubiquitous, even appearing in miniature form as a keychain fob, or novelty item.

==Safety==

Metal retractable tape measures are relatively safe and easy to use. Extend the tape from point to point placing the end-clip at the location you want to measure from. Most tape measures have a clip (tang) that can be attached to a fixed object to measure spans easily. Many steel blade tapes have tension-control brakes that lock the blade in place for measuring spans. Longer (surveyor) tapes have a crank on the side of the case to retract the cloth tape.