Web/API/CanvasRenderingContext2D/textAlign

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign property of the Canvas 2D API specifies the current text alignment used when drawing text.

The alignment is relative to the x value of the fillText() method. For example, if textAlign is "center", then the text's left edge will be at x - (textWidth / 2).

Syntax

ctx.textAlign = "left" || "right" || "center" || "start" || "end";

Options

Possible values:

"left"

The text is left-aligned.

"right"

The text is right-aligned.

"center"

The text is centered.

"start"

The text is aligned at the normal start of the line (left-aligned for left-to-right locales, right-aligned for right-to-left locales).

"end"

The text is aligned at the normal end of the line (right-aligned for left-to-right locales, left-aligned for right-to-left locales).

The default value is "start".

Examples

General text alignment

This example demonstrates the three "physical" values of the textAlign property: "left", "center", and "right".

HTML

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
canvas.width = 350;
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
const x = canvas.width / 2;

ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(x, 0);
ctx.lineTo(x, canvas.height);
ctx.stroke();

ctx.font = '30px serif';

ctx.textAlign = 'left';
ctx.fillText('left-aligned', x, 40);

ctx.textAlign = 'center';
ctx.fillText('center-aligned', x, 85);

ctx.textAlign = 'right';
ctx.fillText('right-aligned', x, 130);

Direction-dependent text alignment

This example demonstrates the two direction-dependent values of the textAlign property: "start" and "end". Note that the direction property is manually specified as "ltr", although this is also the default for English-language text.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

ctx.font = '30px serif';
ctx.direction = 'ltr';

ctx.textAlign = 'start';
ctx.fillText('Start-aligned', 0, 50);

ctx.textAlign = 'end';
ctx.fillText('End-aligned', canvas.width, 120);

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign' in that specification.	Living Standard

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
textAlign	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.5	IE Full support Yes	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support  

Full support

See also

• The interface defining this property: CanvasRenderingContext2D

CanvasRenderingContext2D.textAlign by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.