Document.dir

The Document.dir property is a DOMString representing the directionality of the text of the document, whether left to right (default) or right to left. Possible values are 'rtl', right to left, and 'ltr', left to right.

Syntax

dirStr = document.dir;
document.dir = dirStr;

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard
The definition of 'Document.dir' in that specification.
Living Standard Initial specification

Browser compatibility

  
Feature Chrome Edge Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support ?(Yes) (Yes) [1] (Yes) ? ?
  
Feature Android Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support ?(Yes) (Yes) [1] (Yes) ? ?

[1] Before Firefox 23, the Document.dir property returned "ltr" regardless of the setting of the dir attribute on the root <html> element. And if a direction was set on <html>, Document.dir had no effect in changing it visibly (though subsequent retrieval of the document.dir will assert that the directionality has been changed). However, if such an attribute is not set on <html> and the property is changed, both the document's visible directionality were changed and the document.dir property will correctly reflect the change.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: erikadoyle, teoli, Sebastianz, Brettz9, jsx, nairakhil13, Sheppy, ethertank, vali29
 Last updated by: erikadoyle,