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Graphviz: node

The shape of a node can be specified with the shape attribute.

There are three main types of nodes:

Default attributes

The default attributes for nodes are shape=ellipse, width=.75, height=.5 label="\N":

The default value of "\N" for a node's label attribute causes the label (that is: the text within the node) to be the name of the node. (See the escString type.)

digraph DefAttr {

   N1
   N2 [ shape=ellipse, width=.75, height=.5 label="\N" ]

}

Github repository about-Graphviz, path: /elems/node/default-attributes.dot

color attribute

The color attribute only affects the color of the border around the node, not the color of the label within the node:

digraph {

   node  [ shape = box   ]

   red   [ color = red   ]
   blue  [ color = blue  ]
   green [ color = green ]
   none  [               ]

}

Github repository about-Graphviz, path: /elems/node/color.dot

In order to modify the color of the lable, the fontcolor attribute must be used.

Filled nodes

In order to produce a node that is filled with a (background-)color, it needs to have the two attributes

style=filled and
fillcolor

digraph X {

   node [ shape = box ]

   node_1 [ fillcolor=bisque  style=filled label="style=filled and fillcolor" ]
   node_2 [   bgcolor=red     style=filled label="style=filled and bgcolor"   ] // bgcolor is not respected, color will be grey
   node_3 [ fillcolor=bisque               label="no style but fillcolor"     ]
   node_4 [   bgcolor=red                  label="no style but bgcolor"       ]

   node_1 -> node_2 -> node_3 -> node_4 [ style=invis ]
}

Github repository about-Graphviz, path: /elems/node/filled.dot

Size of a node

shape=plain is shorthand for shape=none width=0 height=0 margin=0. This enforces that the size of the node is determined by its label.

Ranking nodes