Overview

The getLocaleDirection method determines the text direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) for a locale using the Intl.Locale API. It returns either 'ltr' for left-to-right languages or 'rtl' for right-to-left languages.

const gt = new GT({
  sourceLocale: 'en',
  targetLocale: 'ar'
});

const direction = gt.getLocaleDirection('ar');
console.log(direction); // "rtl"

const englishDirection = gt.getLocaleDirection('en-US');
console.log(englishDirection); // "ltr"

Reference

Parameters

Parameters Description

Returns

'ltr' | 'rtl' - Text direction for the locale:

• 'ltr': Left to right (most languages)
• 'rtl': Right to left (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu, etc.)

Throws

• Error – if no locale is provided and the instance has no targetLocale configured

Example

const gt = new GT({
  sourceLocale: 'en',
  targetLocale: 'ar'
});

// Check different language directions
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection()); // "rtl" (uses targetLocale 'ar')
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection('en')); // "ltr"
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection('ar')); // "rtl"
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection('he')); // "rtl"
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection('fa')); // "rtl"
console.log(gt.getLocaleDirection('fr')); // "ltr"

Notes

• Returns 'ltr' for all left-to-right languages (most languages worldwide)
• Returns 'rtl' for right-to-left languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, etc.)

Next steps

• Get locale properties with get-locale-properties
• Validate locales with is-valid-locale
• Get locale emoji with get-locale-emoji
• Explore standalone get-locale-direction