dir HTML global attribute

Try it

<p dir="rtl">
  This paragraph is in English but incorrectly goes right to left.
</p>
<p dir="ltr">This paragraph is in English and correctly goes left to right.</p>

<hr>

<p>هذه الفقرة باللغة العربية ولكن بشكل خاطئ من اليسار إلى اليمين.</p>
<p dir="auto">
  هذه الفقرة باللغة العربية ، لذا يجب الانتقال من اليمين إلى اليسار.
</p>

It can have the following values:

• ltr, which means left to right and is to be used for languages that are written from the left to the right (like English);
• rtl, which means right to left and is to be used for languages that are written from the right to the left (like Arabic);
• auto, which lets the user agent decide. It uses a basic algorithm as it parses the characters inside the element until it finds a character with a strong directionality, then applies that directionality to the whole element.

If unspecified, the value is inherited from the parent element.

This attribute can be overridden by the CSS properties direction and unicode-bidi, if a CSS page is active and the element supports these properties.

As the directionality of the text is semantically related to its content and not to its presentation, it is recommended that web developers use this attribute instead of the related CSS properties when possible. That way, the text will display correctly even on a browser that doesn't support CSS or has the CSS deactivated.

Inheritance

If an element has no dir attribute, it will inherit the dir value set on its parent node, which in turn may inherit it from its parent, and so on.

Usage notes

An image can have its dir property set to "rtl" in which case the HTML attributes title and alt will be formatted and defined as "rtl".

When a table has its dir set to "rtl", the column order is arranged from right to left.

This attribute is mandatory for the <bdo> element where it has a different semantic meaning.

This attribute is not inherited by the <bdi> element. If not set, its value is auto.

Browsers might allow users to change the directionality of <input> and <textarea> elements in order to assist with authoring content. Chrome and Safari provide a directionality option in the contextual menu of input fields. Firefox uses Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (macOS) + Shift + X inside a <textarea> to toggle text direction. These features toggle the dir attribute value between ltr and rtl.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• All global attributes.
• HTMLElement.dir that reflects this attribute.
• Handling different text directions