Bidirectional languages

Bidirectional languages are languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, that are written and read mainly from right to left, but some portions of the text, such as numbers and embedded Latin languages (e.g. English) are written and read left to right. Additional characteristics of bidirectional languages include:

visual order versus logical order
symmetric swapping
number formats
cursive (shaping) versus non-cursive

In bidirectional text, it is important to note the difference between the logical order in which the text is processed or read, and the visual order in which the text is displayed. Bidirectional text is usually stored in logical order. For example, assume that the following text is Arabic, then the logical storage would contain:

maple street 25 entrance b

and the visual display would be (if read from right to left):

b ecnartne 25 teerts elpam

Some characters, such as the greater-than sign, have an implied directional meaning and have a complementary symmetric character with an opposite directional meaning (the less-than sign.) When used within a segment that is presented right-to-left but is inverted (left-to-right) when stored for processing, such a character might have to be replaced by its symmetric sibling to ensure that the correct meaning of the text is preserved. The replacement of such a character by its complement during the transformation of BiDi text is called "symmetrical swapping". Other graphic characters that need symmetrical swapping include the parentheses, square brackets, braces, and so on. Although symmetrical swapping is a characteristic of BiDi languages, it is not always mandatory for the software functions that transform different BiDi language text layouts. Sometimes this function is performed automatically by the workstation hardware or micro code.

Arabic numerals (Latin digits) are those numerals used with Latin text, while Hindi numerals are used within Arabic text, in some of the Arabian countries, like Egypt. However, the Implicit algorithm states the number storage should use Arabic numerals (Latin digit), and be displayed according to the user's settings.

Note that even though the text in the example is displayed right to left, the number "25" is still written left to right. That is because Arabic/Hebrew numbers are written and read left to right.

Arabic is a cursive language. Arabic characters are connected together, and each character has different shapes depending on its location within the word: initial, middle, final or isolated. Cursive languages are suited to handwriting rather than printing. Arabic is always cursive, whether in books, newspapers, signs or workstation displays. English can be handwritten in a cursive style, and it is often used that way in personal communications, but English is seldom published or displayed in a cursive style. Thus, English is not considered a cursive language.

To simplify processing, characters are usually stored in an unshaped form. (The unshaped form is also referred to as the abstract or basic form.) Shaping takes into account the character being shaped and the characters in its vicinity, and replaces the unshaped, abstract form with the proper shape. For example, in Arabic, the unshaped character would be replaced with the initial, middle, final or isolated shaped character, depending on the context.

Note that Hebrew letters do not use shaping, and numbers used with Hebrew text are always displayed with the same digits as used for English.

Legacy operating systems like MVS used to store Arabic and Hebrew data in their visual format. Sometimes for specific needs, data might be stored in a specific shape, for example initial shape. Currently, most applications store text in its unshaped form in logical order. Reordering and shaping are done at display time. Storing text in its unshaped form in logical order makes it easier to process the data (sorting, comparison).