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

Changing text alignment

This example uses the textAlign property to align some text to the right side of the canvas.

HTML

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

JavaScript

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

ctx.font = '48px serif';
ctx.textAlign = 'right';
ctx.strokeText('Hello world', 400, 100);

Edit the code below to see your changes update live in the canvas:

Specifications

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

See also

• The interface defining this property: CanvasRenderingContext2D