direction property

Specifies the reading order of the object.

Syntax

direction: ltr | rtl

Property values

ltr: Initial value. Content flows left to right.
rtl: Content flows right to left.

CSS information

Applies To	All elements
Media	visual
Inherited	1
Initial Value	ltr

Standards information

CSS 2.1, Section 9.10

Remarks

The property does not affect alphanumeric characters in Latin documents. These characters always render ltr. However, the property does affect punctuation characters in Latin documents.

The property pertains only to the directional flow of an element's content. It has no effect on properties such as left or right, margin-left or margin-right. The margin-left property, for example, sets or retrieves the width of the margin on the left side of the document regardless of the value of the direction property.

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to set and retrieve the value of the direction property. When the user sets the value of the direction property of a div element, the value of the property is retrieved in a span element.

Code example: http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/samples/author/dhtml/refs/direction.htm

HTML


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
    function fnSwitch()
    {
      oDiv.style.direction = event.srcElement.innerText;
      DirSpan.innerText = oDiv.style.direction;
    }
    </script>
</head>

<body>

<h1>direction Property Sample</h1>
<h2>direction: <span id="DirSpan" style="color: red"></span></h2>
[ <a href="#" onclick="fnSwitch()">ltr</a> | <a href="#" onclick="fnSwitch()">rtl</a> 
| <a href="#" onclick="fnSwitch()">inherit</a> ]<p></p>
<div id="oDiv">
  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy yellow dog. The quick brown fox jumps 
  over the lazy yellow dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy yellow dog. 
  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy yellow dog. The quick brown fox jumps 
  over the lazy yellow dog.</div>

</body>

</html>