Right-to-left mark

The right-to-left mark (abbr|RLM|right-to-left mark) is a non-printing character used in the computerized typesetting of bi-directional text containing mixed left-to-right scripts (such as English and Russian) and right-to-left scripts (such as Arabic and Hebrew). It is used to change the way adjacent characters are grouped with respect to text direction.

The abbr|RLM's Unicode symbol is U+|200F, and can be represented in abbrlink|HTML|HyperText Markup Language as ‏ ‏ or ‏.

Example of Use in HTML

Suppose the writer wishes to inject a run of Arabic or Hebrew (i.e. right-to-left) text into an English paragraph, with an exclamation point at the end of the run on the left hand side. "I enjoyed staying -- really! -- at his house." With the "really!" in Hebrew renders as follows: I enjoyed staying -- באמת! -- at his house.With an RLM mark entered in the HTML after the exclamation mark, it renders as follows: I enjoyed staying -- באמת!‏ -- at his house. [Standards-compliant browsers will render the exclamation mark on the right in the first example, and on the left in the second]

See also

*Left-to-right mark
*Bi-directional text

External links

* [http://unicode.org/reports/tr9/ Unicode standard annex #9: The bidirectional algorithm]
* [http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/200f/index.htm Unicode character (U+200F)]