CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign property of the Canvas 2D API specifies the current text alignment used when drawing text.

The alignment is relative to the x value of the fillText() method. For example, if textAlign is "center", then the text's left edge will be at x - (textWidth / 2).

Syntax

ctx.textAlign = "left" || "right" || "center" || "start" || "end";

Options

Possible values:

"left"

The text is left-aligned.

"right"

The text is right-aligned.

"center"

The text is centered.

"start"

The text is aligned at the normal start of the line (left-aligned for left-to-right locales, right-aligned for right-to-left locales).

"end"

The text is aligned at the normal end of the line (right-aligned for left-to-right locales, left-aligned for right-to-left locales).

The default value is "start".

Examples

General text alignment

This example demonstrates the three "physical" values of the textAlign property: "left", "center", and "right".

HTML

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

JavaScript

const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
canvas.width = 350;
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
const x = canvas.width / 2;

ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(x, 0);
ctx.lineTo(x, canvas.height);
ctx.stroke();

ctx.font = '30px serif';

ctx.textAlign = 'left';
ctx.fillText('left-aligned', x, 40);

ctx.textAlign = 'center';
ctx.fillText('center-aligned', x, 85);

ctx.textAlign = 'right';
ctx.fillText('right-aligned', x, 130);

Result

Direction-dependent text alignment

This example demonstrates the two direction-dependent values of the textAlign property: "start" and "end". Note that the direction property is manually specified as "ltr", although this is also the default for English-language text.

HTML

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

JavaScript

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

ctx.font = '30px serif';
ctx.direction = 'ltr';

ctx.textAlign = 'start';
ctx.fillText('Start-aligned', 0, 50);

ctx.textAlign = 'end';
ctx.fillText('End-aligned', canvas.width, 120);

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• The interface defining this property: CanvasRenderingContext2D