CanvasRenderingContext2D.direction

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.direction property of the Canvas 2D API specifies the current text direction used to draw text.

Syntax

ctx.direction = "ltr" || "rtl" || "inherit";

Options

Possible values:

"ltr": The text direction is left-to-right.
"rtl": The text direction is right-to-left.
"inherit": The text direction is inherited from the <canvas> element or the Document as appropriate. Default value.

The default value is "inherit".

Examples

Changing text direction

This example draws two pieces of text. The first one is left-to-right, and the second is right-to-left. Note that "Hi!" in ltr becomes "!Hi" in rtl.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

ctx.font = '48px serif';
ctx.fillText('Hi!', 150, 50);
ctx.direction = 'rtl';
ctx.fillText('Hi!', 150, 130);

Result

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard (HTML) # dom-context-2d-direction-dev

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	WebView Android	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet
`direction`	77 39	79	No	No	64 26	9	77	77	No	55	9	12.0