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HTML canvas textBaseline Propery

< Canvas Object

Example

Draw a red line at y=100, then place each word at y=100 with different textBaseline values:

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JavaScript:

var c=document.getElementById("myCanvas");
var ctx=c.getContext("2d");

//Draw a red line at y=100
ctx.strokeStyle="red";
ctx.moveTo(5,100);
ctx.lineTo(395,100);
ctx.stroke();

ctx.font="20px Arial"

//Place each word at y=100 with different textBaseline values
ctx.textBaseline="top";
ctx.fillText("Top",5,100);
ctx.textBaseline="bottom";
ctx.fillText("Bottom",50,100);
ctx.textBaseline="middle";
ctx.fillText("Middle",120,100);
ctx.textBaseline="alphabetic";
ctx.fillText("Alphabetic",190,100);
ctx.textBaseline="hanging";
ctx.fillText("Hanging",290,100);
Try it Yourself »

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
textBaseline 4.0 9.0 3.6 4.0 10.1

Note: The textBaseline property may works differently in browsers, especially when using "hanging" or "ideographic".


Definition and Usage

The textBaseline property sets or returns the current text baseline used when drawing text.

The illustration below demonstrates the various baselines supported by the textBaseline attribute:

textBaseline illustration

Note: The fillText() and strokeText() methods will use the specified textBaseline value when positioning the text on the canvas.

Default value: alphabetic
JavaScript syntax: context.textBaseline="alphabetic|top|hanging|middle|ideographic|bottom";

Property Values

Values Description Play it
alphabetic Default. The text baseline is the normal alphabetic baseline Play it »
top The text baseline is the top of the em square Play it »
hanging The text baseline is the hanging baseline Play it »
middle The text baseline is the middle of the em square Play it »
ideographic The text baseline is the ideographic baseline Play it »
bottom The text baseline is the bottom of the bounding box Play it »

< Canvas Object