How to control text alignment for text generated using `imagettftext()`?

Question

Using the imagettftext function from the PHP GD library, one can only draw text that is left-aligned onto an image. At least so it would seem, perhaps I'm missing something.

How can I control the alignment of the text drawn onto an image? i.e. left / center / right (/ justified - not necessary, but useful)

I should mention that the alignment is visible when the drawn text contains multiple lines (e.g. "bla bla bla/nAnd another line of bla.").

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 05 '12 at 13:58

7

with imagettftext() you're not writing into some kind of "box" but just at the given coordnates. to alingn the text properly, you'll have to calculate the correct coordinates to make it "look like" it's right-aligned or centered.

to do so, you can use imagettfbox() to get the size of your text - the rest is simple math:

to right-align add [textarea-width]-[textwidth] to your X-coordinate
to center add ([textarea-width]-[textwidth]) / 2 to your X-coordinate

(*textarea = the area you want to write the text at in your image - it's size should be known to you)

answered Nov 05 '12 at 13:58

oezi

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This was my idea too, but I was trying to avoid complications. Is there any other approach? – Andrei Oniga Nov 05 '12 at 14:29
Check [this](https://stackoverflow.com/q/18476314/3679900) discussion for possible approach of wrapping words by **max permissible text-width in pixels** by exploiting [`imagettfbbox()`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.imageftbbox.php) function – y2k-shubham Jun 26 '20 at 17:36

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '15 at 12:52

You can use stil/gd-text class. Disclaimer: I am the author.

<?php
use GDText\Box;
use GDText\Color;

$img = imagecreatefromjpeg('image.jpg');

$textbox = new Box($img);
$textbox->setFontSize(12);
$textbox->setFontFace('arial.ttf');
$textbox->setFontColor(new Color(255, 255, 255));
$textbox->setBox(
    50,  // distance from left edge
    50,  // distance from top edge
    200, // textbox width
    100  // textbox height
);

// now we have to align the text horizontally and vertically inside the textbox
$textbox->setTextAlign('left', 'top');
// or like this:
// $textbox->setTextAlign('right', 'top');
// $textbox->setTextAlign('center', 'top');
// $textbox->setTextAlign('center', 'bottom');
// $textbox->setTextAlign('right', 'center');

// it accepts multiline text
$textbox->draw("text to write on picture\nanother line below");

Demonstration:

demo

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 05 '12 at 14:01

The function accepts x and y positional coordinates.

    array imagettftext ( resource $image, 
                         float $size, 
                         float $angle, 
                         int $x, 
                         int $y, 
                         int $color, 
                         string $fontfile, 
                         string $text )

Take a look at http://php.net/manual/en/function.imagettftext.php

How to control text alignment for text generated using `imagettftext()`?

3 Answers3

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