HTML - Global dir Attribute

The dir attribute is used to control the text direction in websites. It is essential for multilingual websites and ensures proper alignment of content in languages that read from the right to the left. It can be applied to numerous HTML elements to designate whether the text should be shown from left to right (ltr) or right to left (rtl).

Web designers can design web pages that are more user-friendly and accessible for a user’s by establishing dir correctly, for accommodating various writing systems and cultural preferences.

This attribute can have the following values −

  • ltr − It provides the element’s content in the left-to-right direction.

  • rtl − It provides the element’s content in the right-to-left direction.

  • auto − Based on the content, the browser will figure out the text direction.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the dir attribute −

<element dir = "ltr | rtl | auto ">

Example

In the following example, let’s see the usage of the dir attribute and how it will provide the content when we use the direction, as follows −

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <title>HTML dir attribute</title>
</head>
<body>
   <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>
</body>
</html>

On running the above code, it will generate an output consisting of the text on the webpage.

Example

Consider the following example, where we are going to place dir as auto.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <title>HTML dir attribute</title>
</head>
<body>
   <p dir="auto">Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s</p>
</body>
</html>

When we run the above code, the output window will pop displaying the text on the webpage.

Example

Let's look at the following example, we are creating an HTML document and using the left-to-right and right-to-left directions to display the content of the page, as follows −

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <title>HTML dir attribute</title>
</head>
<body>
   <p dir="ltr">Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s</p>
   <hr>
   <p dir="rtl">Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s</p>
</body>
</html>

On running the above code, the output window will pop up displaying the text on the webpage.

html_attributes_reference.htm
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