Web/HTML/Element/bdo

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 source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

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.
Implicit ARIA role	No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	`HTMLElement` Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the `HTMLSpanElement` interface for this element.

Attributes

This element's attributes include the global attributes.

dir: The direction in which text should be rendered in this element's contents. Possible values are:

ltr

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.

Examples

<!-- 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>

Result

Notes

The HTML 4 specification did not specify events for this element; they were added in XHTML. This is most likely an oversight.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of '<bdo>' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML5The definition of '<bdo>' in that specification.	Recommendation
HTML 4.01 SpecificationThe definition of '<bdo>' in that specification.	Recommendation

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
`bdo`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	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 Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support