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