How to position a div scrollbar on the left hand side?

You could try direction:rtl; in your css. Then reset the text direction in the inner div

#scroll{
    direction:rtl; 
    overflow:auto; 
    height:50px; 
    width:50px;}

#scroll div{
    direction:ltr;
}

Untested.

  .list_container {
    direction: rtl;
    overflow:auto;
    height: 50px;
    width: 50px;
  }

  .item_direction {
    direction:ltr;
  }

<div class="list_container">
  <div class="item_direction">1</div>
  <div class="item_direction">2</div>
  <div class="item_direction">3</div>
  <div class="item_direction">4</div>
  <div class="item_direction">5</div>
  <div class="item_direction">6</div>
  <div class="item_direction">7</div>
  <div class="item_direction">8</div>
  <div class="item_direction">9</div>
  <div class="item_direction">10</div>
  <div class="item_direction">11</div>
  <div class="item_direction">12</div>
</div>

Working Example: JSFiddle

or

Cut and paste solution that works for all major browsers (Even Safari)

Any height or width will work

<style>
  .list_container {
    direction: rtl;
    overflow:auto;
    height: 50px;
    width: 50px;
  }

  .item_direction {
    direction:ltr;
  }
</style>
<div class="list_container">
  <div class="item_direction">1</div>
  <div class="item_direction">2</div>
  <div class="item_direction">3</div>
  <div class="item_direction">4</div>
  <div class="item_direction">5</div>
  <div class="item_direction">6</div>
  <div class="item_direction">7</div>
  <div class="item_direction">8</div>
  <div class="item_direction">9</div>
  <div class="item_direction">10</div>
  <div class="item_direction">11</div>
  <div class="item_direction">12</div>
</div>

Optionally add class="item_direction to each item to change the direction of the text flow back, while preserving the container direction.

Kind of an old question, but I thought I should throw in a method which wasn't widely available when this question was asked.

You can reverse the side of the scrollbar in modern browsers using transform: scaleX(-1) on a parent <div>, then apply the same transform to reverse a child, "sleeve" element.

HTML

<div class="parent">
  <div class="sleeve">
    <!-- content -->
  </div>
</div>

CSS

.parent {
  overflow: auto;
  transform: scaleX(-1); //Reflects the parent horizontally
}

.sleeve {
  transform: scaleX(-1); //Flips the child back to normal
}

Note: You may need to use an -ms-transform or -webkit-transform prefix for browsers as old as IE 9. Check CanIUse and click "show all" to see older browser requirements.

I have the same problem. but when i add direction: rtl; in tabs and accordion combo but it crashes my structure.

The way to do it is add div with direction: rtl; as parent element, and for child div set direction: ltr;.

I use this first https://api.jquery.com/wrap/

$( ".your selector of child element" ).wrap( "<div class='scroll'></div>" );

then just simply work with css :)

In children div add to css

 .your_class {
            direction: ltr;    
        }

And to parent div added by jQuery with class .scroll

.scroll {
            unicode-bidi:bidi-override;
            direction: rtl;
            overflow: scroll;
            overflow-x: hidden!important;
        }

Works prefect for me

http://jsfiddle.net/jw3jsz08/1/