CanvasRenderingContext2D: letterSpacing property

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.letterSpacing property of the Canvas API specifies the spacing between letters when drawing text.

This corresponds to the CSS letter-spacing property.

Value

The letter spacing as a string in the CSS <length> data format. The default is 0px.

The property can be used to get or set the spacing. The property value will remain unchanged if set to an invalid/unparsable value.

Examples

In this example we display the text "Hello World" three times, using the letterSpacing property to modify the letter spacing in each case. The spacing is also displayed for each case, using the value of the property.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas" width="700"></canvas>

JavaScript

const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

ctx.font = "30px serif";

// Default letter spacing
ctx.fillText(`Hello world (default: ${ctx.letterSpacing})`, 10, 40);

// Custom letter spacing: 10px
ctx.letterSpacing = "10px";
ctx.fillText(`Hello world (${ctx.letterSpacing})`, 10, 90);

// Custom letter spacing: 20px
ctx.letterSpacing = "20px";
ctx.fillText(`Hello world (${ctx.letterSpacing})`, 10, 140);

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• CanvasRenderingContext2D.wordSpacing