Web/API/CanvasRenderingContext2D/textBaseline

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

Syntax

ctx.textBaseline = "top" || "hanging" || "middle" || "alphabetic" || "ideographic" || "bottom";

Options

Possible values:

"top": The text baseline is the top of the em square.
"hanging": The text baseline is the hanging baseline. (Used by Tibetan and other Indic scripts.)
"middle": The text baseline is the middle of the em square.
"alphabetic": The text baseline is the normal alphabetic baseline. Default value.
"ideographic": The text baseline is the ideographic baseline; this is the bottom of the body of the characters, if the main body of characters protrudes beneath the alphabetic baseline. (Used by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scripts.)
"bottom": The text baseline is the bottom of the bounding box. This differs from the ideographic baseline in that the ideographic baseline doesn't consider descenders.

The default value is "alphabetic".

Examples

Comparison of property values

This example demonstrates the various textBaseline property values.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas" width="550" height="500"></canvas>

JavaScript

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

const baselines = ['top', 'hanging', 'middle', 'alphabetic', 'ideographic', 'bottom'];
ctx.font = '36px serif';
ctx.strokeStyle = 'red';

baselines.forEach(function (baseline, index) {
  ctx.textBaseline = baseline;
  const y = 75 + index * 75;
  ctx.beginPath();
  ctx.moveTo(0, y + 0.5);
  ctx.lineTo(550, y + 0.5);
  ctx.stroke();
  ctx.fillText('Abcdefghijklmnop (' + baseline + ')', 0, y);
});

Result

Specifications

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

Browser compatibility

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
`textBaseline`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 3.5	IE Full support 9	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