CSS direction

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The CSS direction property is used in conjunction with the unicode-bidi property to specify which direction the text should run (i.e. from left to right or right to left).

You can provide a value of either ltr or rtl to specify in which direction the text runs.

CSS uses line-left and line-left in its terminology. Text that is written from the left side to the right, starts at line-left. Text that is written from the right side to the left, starts at line-right.

Syntax

Possible Values

ltr: Left to right. Sets inline base direction (bidi directionality) to line-left-to-line-right.
rtl: Right to left. Sets inline base direction (bidi directionality) to line-right-to-line-left.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial: Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit: Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset: This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

General Information

Initial Value: ltr
Applies To: All elements
Inherited?: Yes
Media: Visual
Animatable: No

Example Code

Official Specifications

CSS Writing Modes Level 4 (W3C Candidate Recommendation Draft)
CSS Level 2.1 (W3C Recommendation 07 June 2011)

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.