Bidirectional and RTL Text Issue in Windows Terminal

[hoseintavakol]

Windows Terminal version

1.21.10351.0

Windows build number

26100.3194

Other Software

No response

Steps to reproduce

In Windows Terminal version 1.21.10351.0, bidirectional text rendering seems to be broken. When typing in Arabic (or other right-to-left languages), the text appears in the wrong order. For example, instead of typing "سلام", it displays "مالس" (reversed order).

Downgrading to version 1.13.11432.0 resolves the issue, indicating that this regression was introduced in a later update.

Steps to Reproduce:

Open Windows Terminal (version 1.21.10351.0).
Set the input language to Arabic.
Type any Arabic sentence (e.g., "السلام عليكم").
Observe that the text appears reversed or incorrectly ordered.

Expected Behavior

The text should be rendered correctly from right to left, as it was in previous versions (e.g., 1.13.11432.0).

السلام علیکم

Actual Behavior

Arabic (and possibly other RTL scripts) are rendered left to right, causing incorrect text display.
مکیلع مالسلا

[lhecker]

This was done intentionally in order to support vim -A (vim's Arabic mode): https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/arabic.html
This reverse order is called "logical order", which is what vim expects (and other RTL-aware applications). What's missing is a settings option to enable the so called "display order" (what you expect). Perhaps #538 could be considered the original issue filed on us for this?

Personally, I'm currently not in a position to work on this, but I'd be happy to steer anyone interested in this into the right direction.

[hoseintavakol]

Thank you for the clarification. I understand that this change was intentional to support vim's Arabic mode. However, I also recall that in earlier versions, although the Arabic text was displayed correctly, there were occasional issues with file paths containing Arabic characters. I hope that in the future, this issue can be resolved, and the functionality improves. Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing the improvements!

[DHowett]

Thanks so much!

Closing as a /dup of #538

[Bmnswry28]

Hello,

I am a native Persian (Farsi) speaker and a Windows Terminal user.
This issue severely impacts millions of users who rely on Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and other RTL languages.
Currently, the lack of proper RTL rendering makes reading and writing in the terminal very difficult or impossible.
The disconnected and reversed letters cause major usability problems, especially for developers and students.

I kindly ask the team to prioritize this feature, as it would greatly improve accessibility and inclusivity for a large user base.
Thank you very much for your efforts and consideration.

[lhecker]

Unfortunately, this can be said of at least hundreds of issues and feature requests sent to us. Thanks to this project being open source, anyone can contribute support for RTL, however.

[majidtp]

Unfortunately, this can be said of at least hundreds of issues and feature requests sent to us. Thanks to this project being open source, anyone can contribute support for RTL, however.

This is not a feature request, and not even a “normal bug.”
It’s a fundamental rendering failure: Windows Terminal cannot correctly display RTL text (Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, etc.), which makes it unusable for millions of users.
A terminal that breaks basic text rendering for half the world’s languages cannot be considered reliable.
This is a critical regression that should be treated as a core issue.