Unicode Explained

Code Name Abbr. Entity HTML CSS

U+202E Right-to-left

override

RLO <bdo dir="rtl"> unicode-bidi:

bidi‑override;

direction: rtl;

U+202C Pop directional formatting PDF Suitable end tag

The left-to-right mark and the right-to-left mark set the directionality for preceding and

following characters with weak or neutral directionality. Thus, you cannot change the

writing direction of a string like “ABC” with these marks. Technically, these marks are

zero-width (i.e., invisible) characters with strong directionality.

The override characters, left-to-right override (LRO) and right-to-left override (RLO),

have a stronger effect. They affect the directionality of all characters, up to the next

override or embedding or pop directional formatting (PDF) character. Thus overriding

any natural directionality, they can be used even to make normal English text run right

to left. The LRO character or the corresponding markup is needed for “visual Hebrew”

—i.e., Hebrew written backward—so that modern programs still show it the intended

way.

The embedding characters, left-to-right embedding (LRE) and right-to-left embedding

(RLE), start and end a new level in directionality, in the following sense: Text between

an LRE and a PDF, or between an RLE and a PDF, is treated as embedded (as a whole)

inside the surrounding text. Embedding can be nested: you can, for example, have

English text with an embedded Arabic quotation, ...