Feature Request: RTL (Arabic/Hebrew) input support in line editing

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Needs clarification
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
csharp
Domain
cli, internationalization

Research direction

Start by reproducing Arabic and Hebrew input at the pwsh prompt in Windows Console Host, then examine PSReadLine's line-buffer rendering and cursor, cut, copy, and paste behavior. Done means RTL text displays in the correct reading order while editing, cursor movement respects RTL runs, and clipboard operations preserve the text.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Needs-Triage :mag:

Feature Request: RTL Text Input Support (Arabic / Hebrew)

Problem

PSReadLine handles all interactive line editing in PowerShell. When an Arabic-speaking user types Arabic text at the pwsh prompt, the characters appear in reversed order because PSReadLine processes input strictly left-to-right. This makes it impossible to type Arabic naturally at the PowerShell prompt.

Expected Behavior
  • Arabic (and other RTL) characters should appear in correct right-to-left reading order as the user types
  • Cursor movement (← / →) should respect text direction within RTL runs
  • Cut/copy/paste operations should preserve RTL text correctly
Current Behavior

Arabic letters are displayed in reversed order (LTR rendering of RTL text), making the input unreadable until submitted.

Environment
  • Shell: PowerShell 7.x (pwsh) — standalone, not inside Windows Terminal
  • Console host: Windows Console Host (conhost.exe)
  • PSReadLine: 2.x
  • OS: Windows 11
Suggested Approach
  • Implement basic Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UAX #9) support in the line buffer rendering
  • Detect RTL Unicode ranges (U+0600–U+06FF Arabic, U+0590–U+05FF Hebrew, etc.) and apply correct display order
  • This is the highest-impact fix for RTL users since PSReadLine controls all prompt input
Impact

Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu speakers cannot type their native language at the PowerShell prompt. This affects a significant global developer community.

Also filed in PowerShell/PowerShell and microsoft/terminal repos for full coverage:

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