`direction` CSS property

[!WARNING] Where possible, authors are encouraged to avoid using the direction CSS property and use the HTML dir global attribute instead.

The direction CSS property sets the direction of text, table and grid columns, and horizontal overflow. Use rtl for languages written from right to left (like Hebrew or Arabic), and ltr for those written from left to right (like English and most other languages).

Note that text direction is usually defined within a document (e.g., with HTML’s dir attribute) rather than through direct use of the direction property.

direction: ltr;

direction: rtl;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <div class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    <div>1</div>
    <div>2</div>
    <div>3</div>
    <div>4</div>
  </div>
</section>

#example-element {
  border: 1px solid #c5c5c5;
  padding: 0.75em;
  width: 80%;
  max-height: 300px;
  display: flex;
}

#example-element > div {
  background-color: rgb(0 0 255 / 0.2);
  border: 3px solid blue;
  margin: 10px;
  flex: 1;
}

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
direction: ltr;
direction: rtl;

/* Global values */
direction: inherit;
direction: initial;
direction: revert;
direction: revert-layer;
direction: unset;

Values

This property is specified as one of the following keyword values:

• ltr
  • : Text and other elements go from left to right. This is the default value.
• rtl
  • : Text and other elements go from right to left.

For the direction property to have any effect on inline-level elements, the unicode-bidi property’s value must be embed or override.

Description

The property sets the base text direction of block-level elements and the direction of embeddings created by the unicode-bidi property. It also sets the default alignment of text, block-level elements, and the direction that cells flow within a table or grid row.

Unlike the dir attribute in HTML, the direction property is not inherited from table columns into table cells, since CSS inheritance follows the document tree, and table cells are inside of rows but not inside of columns.

The direction and unicode-bidi properties are the only two properties which are not affected by the all shorthand property.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Setting right-to-left direction

In the example below are two strings of text, both which are displaying using direction: rtl. While the Arabic text is displayed correctly with this setting, the English text now has a full stop in an unusual location.

blockquote {
  direction: rtl;
  width: 300px;
}

<blockquote>
  <p>This paragraph is in English but incorrectly goes right to left.</p>
  <p></p>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
  <p>هذه الفقرة باللغة العربية ، لذا يجب الانتقال من اليمين إلى اليسار.</p>
  <p></p>
</blockquote>

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• unicode-bidi
• writing-mode
• SVG direction attribute
• The HTML dir global attribute
• Creating vertical form controls
• Handling different text directions