Currently, when using Arabic text in Matplotlib plots (titles, labels, legends), the text appears incorrectly due to:
This greatly affects the usability of Matplotlib for Arabic-speaking users in scientific, academic, and educational contexts.
To resolve this issue, we propose the following enhancements:
Integrate Arabic reshaping and bidi support:
Support Arabic-compatible fonts such as:
Auto-detect Arabic text and apply shaping + direction correction internally (if feasible).
The following image shows a real example of the issue where Arabic text is rendered incorrectly in a plot:
(please see attached image or PDF)
A full report is attached with:
Thank you for your efforts and for supporting internationalization!
Yes, this is a known issue with complex script support, and work is underway to support it. See, e.g., #29357 and #23082.
The text-overhaul branch is now merged to main.
Activity
QuLogic commented on Mar 26, 2025
Yes, this is a known issue with complex script support, and work is underway to support it. See, e.g., #29357 and #23082.
QuLogic commented on Apr 10, 2026
The text-overhaul branch is now merged to main.