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Arabic ('ar') dates lost Arabic-Indic digits: ZERODIGIT removed from DateSymbols in 3.44 date localization update #187767
Description
Steps to reproduce
- Create a Flutter app using
flutter_localizationswith Arabic (ar) insupportedLocales(e.g. viaGlobalMaterialLocalizations.delegate). - Run the app with the locale set to
ar(or any Arabic regional locale such asar_SA, which falls back toarsince onlyaris registered). - Format any date/time with
intl, e.g.DateFormat.jm('ar').format(DateTime.now()).
Expected results
Digits are rendered using Arabic-Indic (Eastern Arabic) numerals, as they were up to and including Flutter 3.38:
٨:٣٠ م
Per CLDR, the default numbering system for the generic ar locale is arab (Arabic-Indic digits); only specific regional variants like ar_DZ, ar_MA, ar_TN default to latn.
Actual results
Since Flutter 3.44 (first appeared in 3.43.0-0.1.pre), digits are rendered as ASCII/Latin while day and month names remain Arabic:
8:30 م
Root cause
#181685 (reverted, then relanded in #182189, commit 3ea16190995) regenerated packages/flutter_localizations/lib/src/l10n/generated_date_localizations.dart and removed ZERODIGIT: '٠' from the 'ar' DateSymbols entry — it is the only ZERODIGIT removal in that diff:
git diff 1c1ba3a8390^ 1c1ba3a8390 -- packages/flutter_localizations/lib/src/l10n/generated_date_localizations.dart | grep "ZERODIGIT"
- ZERODIGIT: '٠',
When ZERODIGIT is absent, intl's DateFormat silently falls back to ASCII '0' (localeZero => dateSymbols.ZERODIGIT ?? '0'), so every date formatted under the ar locale switches to Latin digits.
Because GlobalMaterialLocalizations.delegate injects the Flutter-bundled DateSymbols into intl via initializeDateFormattingCustom (overriding intl's own locale data), every app using flutter_localizations with Arabic is affected — including all DateFormat usages outside Flutter widgets, and packages like easy_localization.
Note the same ZERODIGIT loss is present in package:intl data between 0.19.0 and 0.20.x (lib/src/data/dates/symbols/ar.json), which suggests the shared data-generation pipeline dropped the arab numbering system for generic ar — only ar_EG retains ZERODIGIT: '٠'. This looks unintentional, since CLDR still specifies arab as the default numbering system for ar.
Code sample
Code sample
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_localizations/flutter_localizations.dart';
import 'package:intl/intl.dart';
void main() => runApp(const MyApp());
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
const MyApp({super.key});
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
locale: const Locale('ar'),
supportedLocales: const [Locale('ar'), Locale('en')],
localizationsDelegates: const [
GlobalMaterialLocalizations.delegate,
GlobalWidgetsLocalizations.delegate,
GlobalCupertinoLocalizations.delegate,
],
home: Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Builder(
builder: (context) => Text(
// Flutter <= 3.38: "٨:٣٠ م" — Flutter 3.44: "8:30 م"
DateFormat.jm('ar').format(DateTime(2026, 1, 1, 20, 30)),
),
),
),
),
);
}
}Logs
No exceptions are thrown; this is a silent data regression.
Flutter Doctor output
Doctor output
Flutter 3.44.1 • channel stable • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
Framework • revision 924134a44c (11 days ago) • 2026-05-29 12:13:22 -0400
Engine • hash 39b1f7043775b9578bbb26a1676e79c4e31c8b5e (revision c416acfeb8) (13 days ago) • 2026-05-27 20:19:31.000Z
Tools • Dart 3.12.1 • DevTools 2.57.0
[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.44.1, on macOS 26.1 25B78 darwin-arm64, locale en-US)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.0.0)
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 26.3)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Connected device (3 available)
[✓] Network resources
• No issues found!
Activity
saurabh-mirajkar commentedon Jun 10, 2026
@ziyad-aljohani Thanks for the detailed report. I can reproduce this using the provided sample. On Flutter 3.38.10 the formatted time uses Arabic-Indic digits, while on Flutter 3.44.1 it renders Latin digits as described. Labeling and routing for investigation.
Piinks commentedon Jun 23, 2026
FYI @QuncCccccc
QuncCccccc commentedon Jun 24, 2026
This seems because the upstream package
intlremoved ZERODIGIT in this commit.Piinks commentedon Jun 24, 2026
Ah ok! Thanks for taking a look. Should we file an issue for
intlto address it?QuncCccccc commentedon Jun 24, 2026
Yes! Will create an issue for
intl!QuncCccccc commentedon Jun 24, 2026
Created one dart-lang/i18n#1064
Fix date localization missing ZERODIGIT in Arabic(ar) (flutter#188473)
ziyad-aljohani commentedon Jun 27, 2026
@QuncCccccc he said:
"This is WAI, as the default for Arabic is latin numbering, so it as a latin 0 as the ZERODIGIT."
Which is totally wrong. The default for Arabic should be Eastern Arabic numerals (٠, ١, ٢).
In fact, both iOS and Android provide a system settings choice between standard Western numerals (1, 2, 3) and Eastern Arabic numerals (١, ٢, ٣). Flutter should support this choice.
However, for now, it should revert to making Eastern Arabic numerals (٠, ١, ٢) the default, just as it was previously.
ziyad-aljohani commentedon Jun 29, 2026
@QuncCccccc I understand that this stems from the upstream CLDR data mapping for the generic
arlocale. However, relying solely ondefaultNumberingSystemfrom CLDR for a generic locale leads to a broken user experience in production.Crucially, this change breaks the RTL (Right-to-Left) text rendering in the
Textwidget. For instance, if a user types a time string like8:00 صباحا, the directionality breaks and it layout/starts from left to right due to the Latin digits forcing LTR text direction segments.٨:٠٠ صباحا8:00 صباحاHere is why this needs to be handled differently in Flutter:
٠, ١, ٢), Flutter should respect the host platform's configuration rather than strictly falling back to the CLDR's genericlatndefault.nativeKey in CLDR: As you pointed out, CLDR explicitly defines<native>arab</native>underotherNumberingSystemsfor thearlocale. For the vast majority of Arabic-speaking regions (outside of Northwest Africa/Maghreb), Eastern Arabic numerals are the expected native standard in daily digital interfaces.If Flutter strictly enforces
latnforarwithout checking the platform's native locale settings or fallback preferences, it breaks backward compatibility and forces an unnatural default on millions of users who previously had the correct native layout.Flutter should ideally check the native platform's numbering system preference, or at least respect the
nativetoken defined in CLDR when the genericarlocale is initialized without a specific country code.QuncCccccc commentedon Jun 29, 2026
Hello, I think I already fixed the missing ZERODIGIT issue on framework side. Please check master branch to verify.
ziyad-aljohani commentedon Jun 29, 2026
@QuncCccccc Thank you.
The problem is that i18n says this is the expected behaviour. So i think flutter should support both numbers based on device settings.
Piinks commentedon Jun 29, 2026
Thanks @ziyad-aljohani. I think I can clarify, the i18n package is not own or maintained by Flutter, it is a Dart package. For now, we have mitigated the change in i18n here in Flutter.
Fix date localization missing ZERODIGIT in Arabic(ar) (#188473)
github-actions commentedon Jul 14, 2026
This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of
flutter doctor -vand a minimal reproduction of the issue.Fix date localization missing ZERODIGIT in Arabic(ar) (#188473)