CanvasRenderingContext2D: direction property

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since May 2022.

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

Value

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

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

JavaScript

js
const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const 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
# dom-context-2d-direction-dev

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
direction
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 77 (Release date: 2019-09-10)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 79 (Release date: 2020-01-15)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 101 (Release date: 2022-05-31)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 64 (Release date: 2019-10-07)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 9 (Release date: 2015-09-30)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 77 (Release date: 2019-09-10)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 101 (Release date: 2022-05-31)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 55 (Release date: 2019-12-03)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 9 (Release date: 2015-09-16)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 12 (Release date: 2020-06-19)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 77 (Release date: 2019-09-10)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 9 (Release date: 2015-09-16)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also