17.3.2.3 bdo

This element specifies a directional override, which shall be applied as described by the Bidirectional Algorithm (cf. Unicode Technical Report #9). [Note: The presence of this markup is functionally equivalent to the presence of a LRO/RLO character at the location of the start element, and a corresponding PDF character at the location of the end element in a string of Unicode text. end note]

[Example: The right-to-left override can be used to force a product part number made of mixed English, digits, and Hebrew text written from right-to-left, as follows. (Assume lower-case text is English and the upper-case text is Arabic or Hebrew):

<w:r>
  <w:t xml:space="preserve">part number: </w:t>
</w:r>
<w:bdo w:val=”rtl”>
  <w:r>
    <w:t>ad-326D-FG</w:t>
  </w:r>
</w:bdo>

This generates the following text layout:

part number: GF-D623-da.

The bidirectional override forces all characters to example]

be displayed right-to-left, regardless of their classification. end

Attributes

val (Direction of Override)

Specifies the direction of the override being applied.

If this attribute is omitted, the override shall be assumed to be ltr.

[Example: For example, consider the following bidirectional override:

  <w:bdo w:val="rtl">
    …
  </w:bdo>

The val

left.

attribute explicitly declares that the override is applied right to

end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_Direction simple type (17.18.12).

[Note: The W3C XML Schema definition of this element’s content model (CT_BdoContentRun) is located in A.1. end note]