graphvizdot

Move 2 nodes to the side without affecting the rest of the layout

I have the following dot layout:

digraph {
  a b c

  a -> b b -> c

  b -> g1 [dir=back,constraint=false]
  b -> g2 [dir=back,constraint=false]

  g1 -> g2 [style=invis]
}

result of the dot layout above

I would like g1 and g2 to be closer to each other and vertically centered around b like this:

what I want instead

I tried with a subgraph and cluster for g1 and g2 and with some invisible edges. I never managed to do anything good enough.

Solution

  • The easiest way is to set rankdir=LR to make node alignment vertical instead of horizontal. Then use rank=same to keep a, b, and c aligned.

    digraph {
  rankdir=LR  // now alignment is vertical

  {rank=same
    a b c
  }
  a -> b
  b -> c

  b -> g1 [dir=back] 
  b -> g2 [dir=back] 
}

    Giving:
    enter image description here