mixing rtl with ltr in tcpdf

Question

mixing rtl with ltr in tcpdf

1.8k Views Asked by Daniel Katzan At 04 April 2025 at 12:25

I'm using tcpdf to create pdf files in my webapp.

I'm using the writeHtml() function of tcpdf and trying to mix some hebrew with english,

when trying to combine both of the languages in the same line, the output comes out in the wrong direction.

for example - this is a piece of my code:

    $pdf = new TCPDF ( PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true, 'UTF-8', false );
    $pdf->SetDisplayMode ( "default", "OneColumn" );
    $pdf->setRTL ( false );
    $pdf->SetFont ( 'freeserif', '', 10, '' );


    $html = '<body  style="text-align: center">';
    $html .= "<p> some words in english ואחכ כמה מילים בעברית </p>";
    $html .= "<p> כמה מילים כתובות בעברית and then some words in english</p>";
    $html .= '</body>';
    $pdf->AddPage ();

    $pdf->writeHTML ( $comments_table, true, false, true, false, 'R' );
    $pdf->Output ( $path, 'F' );

the expected output will be:

some words in english ואחכ כמה מילים בעברית

כמה מילים כתובות בעברית and then some words in english.

but the words in the second language in every language come in the oppsite order my output is:

some words in english בעברית מילים כמה ואחכ

כמה מילים כתובות בעברית english in words some then and

as you can see - in the first line the english is ok - and the hebrew not, in the second line the hebrew is ok and the english isnt

Original Q&A

There are 5 best solutions below

Chester M On 25 August 2015 at 03:27

According to this tutorial from w3.org about bidirectional text:

For inline text, tightly wrap all opposite-direction phrases in markup that sets their base direction.

So your code should be something like this:

$html = '<body style="text-align: center">
            <span> some words in english<span>
            <span>ואחכ כמה מילים בעברית <br> כמה מילים כתובות בעברית<span>
            <span>and then some words in english</span>
        </body>';

$pdf->AddPage();

$pdf->writeHTML( $html, true, false, true, false, '' );

JamesG On 02 June 2015 at 04:39

Try wrapping the Hebrew chunks in span tags with dir="rtl". I know that would work in a browser, just not sure about TCPDF. You may also be able to include entire sentences that have mixed English and Hebrew within those span tags.

Eng.MoaathHomaid On 01 July 2018 at 08:11

To make output showing correctly with RTL or LTR write directions, simply you can check from your solution the current direction and store it in $direction variable, then check it if is RTL or not. add this to your code :

$direction = $user->get_config("direction");
$style = "";

if ($direction == "rtl"){
        $style = "
                 <style> h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,div,p,table,thead,tr,td {
                         direction:rtl !important; text-align: right !important;}
                 </style>";
    }

Then Add this before you put anything in $html variable

$html = $style . "<HTML CODE>";

Finally Print your output :

$pdf->writeHTML($html, true, false, false, false, '');

Atara On 26 October 2017 at 08:16

use setRTL():

...
$pdf->setRTL(true);
$pdf->writeHTML($html, true, false, true, false, '');

**Daniel Katzan** · Accepted Answer

Daniel Katzan On 29 August 2015 at 11:21 BEST ANSWER

I switched from tcpdf to mpdf which has a built in support for Bidirectional languages

mixing rtl with ltr in tcpdf

There are 5 best solutions below

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