[XeTeX] [OT, xelatex] Persian text

[John Was]

Hello

If you are using plain XeTeX, a simple example using \halign (the table 
function) to centre the poems visually would be:

\TeXXeTstate=1 % this turns bidirectional functionality on

\font\arabic = "Scheherazade:script=arab" at  13pt

\def\intextarab#1{{\arabic {\beginR #1\endR}}}
\halign to \hsize{%
\hfil #l\cr

\intextarab{الله أكبر}\cr

\noalign{\nobreak}

\intextarab{أشهد أن لا اله إلا الله}\cr

\intextarab{أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله}\cr

\intextarab{حي على الصلاة}\cr

\intextarab{حي على الفلاح}\cr

\intextarab{الله أكبر}\cr

\noalign{\nobreak}

\intextarab{لا إله إلا الله}\cr

}\vskip 12pt

\halign to \hsize{%

#\hfil\cr

Translation line\cr

\noalign{\nobreak}

Translation line\cr

Translation line\cr

Translation line\cr

Translation line\cr

Translation line\cr

\noalign{\nobreak}

Translation line\cr

}



(That's Arabic rather than Persian, of course.)



The \noalign{\nobreak} lines are to glue adjacent lines at the start and end 
(and of course you may want to insert these at other points too).  If you 
want space between stanzas, then it's e.g. \noalign{\vskip 6pt} or whatever.



 Hope this helps (I'm neither an Arabist nor acquainted with Persian, but 
I've occasionally had to do this kind of thing on the hoof).





John










----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Theodore M Rolle, Jr." <stercor at gmail.com>
To: "XeTeX Mailing list" <xetex at tug.org>
Sent: 14 January 2013 03:34
Subject: [XeTeX] [OT, xelatex] Persian text


>I wish to typeset Persian text, no math, consisting of poems in Persian
> with English translations following.
>
> I've tried an embarrassing number of "solutions," non of which worked.
> Can someone provide me with a minimum working example of how to do this?
> I'd like to use Linux Biolinum O text for the English translation.
>
> Ted
>
>
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