The HTML Bidirectional Text Override element (<bdo>) overrides the current directionality of text, so that the text within is rendered in a different direction.
The text's characters are drawn from the starting point in the given direction; the individual characters' orientation is not affected (so characters don't get drawn backward, for example).
| Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Phrasing content. |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts phrasing content. |
| Permitted ARIA roles | Any |
| DOM interface |
HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element. |
This element's attributes include the global attributes.
dirltr: Indicates that the text should go in a left-to-right direction.rtl: Indicates that the text should go in a right-to-left direction.<!-- Switch text direction --> <p>This text will go left to right.</p> <p><bdo dir="rtl">This text will go right to left.</bdo></p>
The HTML 4 specification did not specify events for this element; they were added in XHTML. This is most likely an oversight.
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<bdo>' in that specification. | Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<bdo>' in that specification. | Recommendation | |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<bdo>' in that specification. | Recommendation |
| Desktop | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari | |
| Basic support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge Mobile | Firefox for Android | Opera for Android | iOS Safari | Samsung Internet | |
| Basic support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/bdo