reading from right to left

gamor · 08-25-2005, 10:19 AM

Hello, I have mandrake 10.1. While installing it, i chose support for both English and Arabic ( I have UTF-8 as default). When I open a file using vi, I get arabic letter written form left to right while they should be written from right to left.
Would anyone know how to fix this problem
thanks

corfe · 08-25-2005, 12:26 PM

It looks like vi has a special command line option for arabic / right-to-left languages, as long as it was compiled with support for it.

Try running "vi -A" instead of just "vi".

If this works for you, you'll want to put in your bash profile somewhere :

alias vi='vi -A'

gamor · 08-25-2005, 12:48 PM

That worked. But you know what, the english words are now written backwards. My files have both english and arabic text!!

corfe · 08-25-2005, 01:04 PM

Hmm. Maybe make an alias for another command? Do you mind typing a separate command for arabic and english files?

It looks like you can change modes in realtime (in vi) by typing (first to set right-to-left mode, second to unset it)

:set rl
:set norl

If that isn't to your liking, perhaps there's a program out there that detects if your files are arabic or english, and I could help you write a script to use that program, so that vi autodetects which one it should use.

gamor · 08-25-2005, 01:28 PM

actually, in one single file I have both languages. That's what makes it complicated.

corfe · 08-25-2005, 02:10 PM

I don't think it will autodetect for you and switch the mode for you, but try those commands, they're commands you type from within vi ":set rl" and ":set norl" - that at least lets you switch modes manually while you're editing a file.

gamor · 08-25-2005, 03:26 PM

Yes, that is working. I just have one more question. The file I mentioned is actually an English to Arabic dictionary. When I look up this file for words, will it know how to read them (L->R or R->L).
Thanks for your help

corfe · 08-26-2005, 08:53 AM

I assume so. I read somewhere that "right-to-left" text is still stored like it should be (the first symbol in a right-to-left text line is on the right, and stored file-wise at the beginning of the file, but the program that displays the line knows to display it right-to-left instead of left-to-right).

I would try it out with a couple of words and make sure it works though before you get too far!

gamor · 08-26-2005, 10:12 AM

Just for anyone who has the same issue. In the console, if you go to settings, then configure console, you can check "allow bidirectional text rendering". You will be able to read a language that read from left to right and another that reads from right to left in the same file.
I haven't tried reading from a file yet. I will have to check that out.
Thanks for your help .