It turns out that org mode does force directionality in its buffers. I found in org.el the line 5308 (setq bidi-paragraph-direction 'left-to-right) However, bidi-paragraph-direction is always buffer local when set. That explains why switching to other mode does not help. The solution is to set bidi-paragraph-direction to nil in org buffers with mixed LTR and RTL texts. This, however, might change the alignment of some headings to right-aligned. But the bidi markers now work just fine, so it's just a matter of placing them wisely. I appreciate the time you took for this little discussion. It helped me get a clearer picture of the inner workings of bidi and emacs. Kind regards, Manuel GJT On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 2:03 AM, Dov Grobgeld wrote: > A work around seems to be to provide an empty line between the LTR and > the RTL paragraph. I.e. instead of > > * this is ltr > * THIS IS RTL > > do: > > * this is ltr > > * THIS IS RTL > > But you are correct that the wrapping of LTR paragraphs with RTL text > is buggy. This bug seems to have nothing to do with org mode, but > happens e.g. in text mode and fundamental mode as well. You should > raise this issue on the emacs-list or file a bug with emacs. > > On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 7:27 AM, Manuel GJT wrote: > > Specifically what additional information should I provide? This happens > to > > me even without my .emacs loaded. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 with > > m17n-(db/contrib), libm17n-(0/dev) installed. > > > > It seems that in org mode is forcing LTR in mixed-directionality texts > > since, for example, a heading with RTL text will not change the stars to > be > > right-aligned, and the cursor's behavior in org mode is different than > in a > > clean buffer. > > > > Perhaps you could show me how to ignore any previous paragraph settings > > other than with R-T-L MARK? > > > > > > Kind regards, > > > > Manuel GJT > > > > > > On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 12:49 PM, Dov Grobgeld > > wrote: > >> > >> I was able to reproduce this behavior only with by forcing the > >> paragraph direction to LTR or equivilantly by having a first strong > >> LTR character in the beginning of the paragraph. Please provide more > >> information about your environment, and someone might be able to help > >> you. > >> > >> Regards, > >> Dov > >> > >> > >> On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 8:22 PM, Manuel GJT wrote: > >> > Hello everyone, > >> > > >> > I need to work in an org buffer with both left-to-right and > >> > right-to-left > >> > text. Although the character directionality and composition works > fine, > >> > when > >> > writing paragraphs with visual-line-mode on the lines get inverted, > >> > i.e., > >> > the line > >> > > >> > ZYX CBA > >> > > >> > appears as > >> > > >> > ZYX > >> > CBA > >> > > >> > instead of > >> > > >> > CBA > >> > ZYX > >> > > >> > The section "22.20 Bidirectional Editing" of the Emacs manual suggests > >> > forcing the directionality of the paragraph with RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK, > but > >> > this does not seem to work: even with such a character beginning the > >> > line, > >> > (current-bidi-paragraph-direction) returns "left-to-right". > >> > > >> > The RTL MARK seems to work just fine in tables. > >> > > >> > When written in a clean text-mode buffer the same text appears with > >> > proper > >> > directionality. However switching from org-mode to text-mode does not > >> > correct directionality in said paragraphs. The issue persists even > when > >> > visiting the file with emacs -Q. > >> > > >> > org-version 8.0.3, same issue with v. 7.9.4 > >> > > >> > Your help is much appreciated. > >> > > >> > -- > >> > Manuel GJT > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Manuel GJT > -- Manuel GJT