CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign property of the Canvas 2D API specifies the current text alignment being used when drawing text. Beware that the alignment is based on the x value of the CanvasRenderingContext2D.fillText method. So if textAlign="center", then the text would be drawn at x-50%*width.

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

Using the textAlign property

This is just a simple code snippet using the textAlign property to set a different text alignment.

HTML

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

JavaScript

var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
ctx.font = '48px serif';
ctx.textAlign = 'left';
ctx.strokeText('Hello world', 0, 100);

Edit the code below and see your changes update live in the canvas:

<canvas id="canvas" width="400" height="200" class="playable-canvas"></canvas>
<div class="playable-buttons">
  <input id="edit" type="button" value="Edit" />
  <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" />
</div>
<textarea id="code" class="playable-code">
ctx.font = '48px serif';
ctx.textAlign = 'left';
ctx.strokeText('Hello world', 0, 100);</textarea>

var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
var textarea = document.getElementById('code');
var reset = document.getElementById('reset');
var edit = document.getElementById('edit');
var code = textarea.value;
function drawCanvas() {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
  eval(textarea.value);
}
reset.addEventListener('click', function() {
  textarea.value = code;
  drawCanvas();
});
edit.addEventListener('click', function() {
  textarea.focus();
})
textarea.addEventListener('input', drawCanvas);
window.addEventListener('load', drawCanvas);

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• The interface defining it, CanvasRenderingContext2D.