How to make the text direction from right to left

Question

I want to write text in (right to left language i.e. Arabic) in a TextView. But I want to make the text writing direction from right to left. gravity:rightwill align the text to right only. I want to justify the text from right to left ( to make the words and numbers appear in he entered order in the line ) . how ?

I believe this answers your question. It's marked as correct... I haven't tested it to verify that it is *indeed correct, but it looks like it should work. stackoverflow.com/questions/6302221/… — Yevgeny Simkin
– Yevgeny Simkin, Commented Jun 9, 2012 at 20:52
how to set Try adding a RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK character (\u200F) ?? such this >> tv.setText("\u200F My Arabic text"); — Adham
– Adham, Commented Jun 9, 2012 at 21:08
I think so, as I said, I hadn't tried it, but that does look like the correct approach — Yevgeny Simkin
– Yevgeny Simkin, Commented Jun 9, 2012 at 21:16

Ali · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-02 21:34:28Z

Another clever way which can be used in older versions of android and can be used anywhere in string so it's handier even in latest version of android, is to include the right-to-left mark or even left-to-right mark in the string when it's needed:

left-to-right mark: &lrm; or &#x200e; (U+200E) right-to-left mark: &rlm; or &#x200f; (U+200F)

This is how it's down:

String rtl = "Hello \u200F(سلام)";

The good thing about this method is you can even use it after punctuation like (,{,[,! which are positioned right incorrectly! examples:

سلام! // wrong position سلام!‏ // right position by adding RLM after !

look how ! is positioned correctly in second line, actually there is an RLM after it, and you can copy paste it even if it's invisible.

The second good thing as you saw it is that you can use this method (these char codes) in any system that supports RTL like browsers, word and so on.

@SaeedNeamati These chars are added to UTF exactly for this purpose, so as long as rendering engine respect them there will be no side effect, which is the case in android. The only thing is, in some fonts a representation glyph exist for these codes, and they are displayed when these chars are used. you must remove their glyphs using some font editor tools like font creator.

RaedMarji · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-20 18:51:24Z

52

Just put this property in your TextView and everything will workout just fine it will automatically detect your text and change accordingly

android:textDirection="anyRtl"

answered Jun 20, 2013 at 18:51

RaedMarji

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2 Comments

Iman Marashi Over a year ago

Attribute "textDirection" is only used in API level 17 and higher (current min is 13)

My House Over a year ago

If the above didn't work try android:textAlignment="viewStart"

losingsleeep · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-18 10:07:23Z

21

Too late , but the android:gravity="right" worked.

answered Sep 18, 2013 at 10:07

losingsleeep

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2 Comments

Assaf S. Over a year ago

this will mess up mixed text, numbering, braces etc. definitely use android:gravity="right" /see: android-developers.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/…

Ranjithkumar Over a year ago

It will affect if you use English text

Farshid roohi · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-06 15:06:30Z

20

set this line in xml for textview :

 android:textDirection="locale"

edited Jun 6, 2018 at 15:06

Farshid roohi

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answered Mar 1, 2017 at 5:32

arshad shaikh

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3 Comments

arshad shaikh Over a year ago

and sets text as for Arabic ...myTextView.settext("\u200F"+"text").

arshad shaikh Over a year ago

I have seperate xml layout for arabic designs

Nayan Over a year ago

For me, all Arabic texts were showing right to left properly. But when the text started with an English word (rest of the text was Arabic), it was showing left to right.. android:textDirection="locale" -> this line solved it for me. Thank you!!

Iman Marashi · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-30 00:31:16Z

18

Try using

 textview.setTextDirection(View.TEXT_DIRECTION_RTL);

or

 textview.setTextDirection(View.TEXT_DIRECTION_ANY_RTL);

answered Mar 30, 2015 at 0:31

Iman Marashi

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1 Comment

gumuruh Over a year ago

what are the differences?

manDroid · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-04 17:23:44Z

In case of normal edit text this will work

 android:textDirection="rtl"

But in case of password fields this is not enough then follow this;

 android:textDirection="rtl" android:gravity="right"

For me it was crucial using android:textDirection="anyRtl" instead of using simply rtl additionally to your suggestion.

Armin · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-25 06:57:42Z

Use android:layoutDirection="rtl" and android:textAlignment="viewStart" to make the text view right-to-left.

SMR · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-25 08:53:37Z

3

try this as it worked for me android:textDirection="rtl"

edited Oct 25, 2017 at 8:53

SMR

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answered Sep 13, 2015 at 3:51

user2876982

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SMR · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-25 08:53:51Z

3

Add these to your editText:

android:gravity="right" android:textDirection="rtl"

PS: android:textDirection requires API level 17

edited Oct 25, 2017 at 8:53

SMR

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answered Jul 29, 2017 at 13:48

Kaaveh Mohamedi

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Comments

Liran Cohen · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-31 07:55:50Z

just adding my own experience with such issues. in my case in addition to suggested solutions i also had to replace English " character with the RTL (in my case hebrew) representation of such character ״

Lord Tesla · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-10 17:20:47Z

By using attributes as below in my xml code strangely I got a right to left text with correct punctuation. But this is not a perfect solution for multi language text:

android:textDirection="ltr" android:gravity="right"

setting ltr corrects punctuation problems like having dot on right side instead of left.

gravity attribute makes text flow from right to left.

Rasoul Miri · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-17 15:14:22Z

best way textDirection for TextView, Don't use layoutDirection

 <TextView android:id="@+id/viewCountTv" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:textDirection="anyRtl" android:gravity="center"/>

Can you provide more info in why not to use layoutDirection ?

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