TikZ (finite) grid with character in each cell

Question

The code

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[step=0.5cm,color=gray] (-1,-1) grid (1,1);
\end{tikzpicture}

gives me a nice finite 4x4 grid. Now I want to center one character in each cell, how to do this?

By the way, how can I specify the absolute position of my picture and how to stretch it in one direction (i.e. that it becomes a proper rectangle (not a square)).

Is there a reason why a simple tabular would not work? – Steven B. Segletes Jun 29 '15 at 16:23 — Steven B. Segletes, Jun 29 '15 at 16:23

score 29 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 10 '17 at 11:34

I would place the text using a matrix of nodes:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[step=0.5cm,color=gray] (-1,-1) grid (1,1);
\matrix[matrix of nodes,nodes={inner sep=0pt,text width=.5cm,align=center,minimum height=.5cm}]{
A & B & C & D \\
E & F &  & H \\
I & J & K & L \\
M & N & O & P\\};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

matrix

To get rectangular nodes, you can adjust xstep and ystep separately (and text width and minimum height accordingly):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[xstep=0.75cm,ystep=0.5,color=gray] (0,0) grid (3,2);
\matrix[matrix of nodes,
inner sep=0pt,
anchor=south west,
nodes={inner sep=0pt,text width=.75cm,align=center,minimum height=.5cm}
]{
A & B & C & D \\
E & F &  & H \\
I & J & K & L \\
M & N & O & P\\
};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

matrix rectangular

This is the better answer imho. Caveat, though: When using it in beamer, take a look at this, too: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/208408/tikz-matrix-undefined-control-sequence — t.animal, Jul 07 '16 at 15:22

Martin Scharrer · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-07T15:49:36.343

27

You can use \nodes to place text everywhere you want. The are by default centered at the given coordinate which can be changed using the anchor and other options.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[step=0.5cm,color=gray] (-1,-1) grid (1,1);
\node at (-0.75,+0.75) {A};
\node at (-0.25,+0.75) {B};
\node at (+0.25,+0.75) {C};
\node at (+0.75,+0.75) {D};
\node at (-0.75,+0.25) {E};
\node at (-0.25,+0.25) {F};
\node at (+0.25,+0.25) {G};
\node at (+0.75,+0.25) {H};
% ...
\node at (+0.75,-0.75) {Q};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Result

Or using a loop:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[step=0.5cm,color=gray] (-1,-1) grid (1,1);

\newcounter{mycount}
\setcounter{mycount}{`A}
\foreach \y in {+0.75,+0.25,-0.25,-0.75}
  \foreach \x in {-0.75,-0.25,0.25,0.75}
    \node at (\x,\y) {\char\value{mycount}\addtocounter{mycount}{1}};
\end{tikzpicture}%

% Or
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[step=0.5cm,color=gray] (-1,-1) grid (1,1);
\foreach \x/\y/\m in {+0.75/+0.75/A,-0.75/-0.75/X} % etc
    \node at (\x,\y) {\m};
\end{tikzpicture}%

\end{document}

Loop result Loop result 2

You can scale the image in the X or Y direction using xscale=<number> and yscale=<number>, respectively. Both are scaled with scale=<number>.

If you mean with "absolute position" a fixed position on a page you can do this by drawing it relative to the special current page node (needs the remember picture,overlay option on the picture). If you give more specific information about this I can make an example.

edited Mar 07 '11 at 15:49

answered Mar 07 '11 at 14:45

Martin Scharrer

262,582

Ok, thanks! How to control the position, how to stretch it? – student Mar 07 '11 at 14:49
@user4011: I added this. What exactly do you mean with "absolute position"? – Martin Scharrer Mar 07 '11 at 14:51
1

Is it possible to rewrite the code using looping commands? – Display Name Mar 07 '11 at 15:03
2

@TeX: Yes, it is. – Martin Scharrer Mar 07 '11 at 15:40
Fantastic answer! – Jimi Oke Oct 08 '11 at 20:56
How to insert numeric values instead of letters? – pceccon Dec 19 '16 at 12:55
@pceccon: Well, replace the letters with numbers. If you are talking about the looping construct then replace the \char\value{mycount} with \arabic{mycount}. – Martin Scharrer Dec 19 '16 at 20:13
Bit late reply: Is there a way to rotate the grid? – L.K. Jun 01 '17 at 14:31

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Using the grid shape from my answer to “Drawing a tree of grids”, you can access the centers of the squares in the grid:

% Code assumes that the grid shape has been added (e.g. in the preamble).
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \node[  draw,
            grid,
            grid lines=3,
            minimum width=2cm,
            minimum height=2cm
         ] (letters) {};
    \node at (letters.center 1 4) {A};
    \node at (letters.center 2 4) {B};
    \node at (letters.center 3 4) {C};
    \node at (letters.center 4 4) {D};
    \node at (letters.center 1 3) {E};
    \node at (letters.center 2 3) {F};
    \node at (letters.center 3 3) {G};
    \node at (letters.center 4 3) {H};
    \node at (letters.center 1 2) {I};
    \node at (letters.center 2 2) {J};
    \node at (letters.center 3 2) {K};
    \node at (letters.center 4 2) {L};
    \node at (letters.center 1 1) {M};
    \node at (letters.center 2 1) {N};
    \node at (letters.center 3 1) {O};
    \node at (letters.center 4 1) {P};
\end{tikzpicture}

result

Kpym · Answer 4 · 2015-06-29T16:00:34.637

9

This looks like a perfect question for codegolfing ;) Here is a 4x4 grid with letters from A to P in 93 characters command :

\documentclass[tikz,border=7mm]{standalone}
\begin{document}
  \tikz\draw grid(4,4)foreach[count=~]\l in{A,...,P}{({.5+mod(~-1,4},{3.5-div(~-1,4})node{\l}};
\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Jun 29 '15 at 16:00

answered Jun 29 '15 at 15:54

Kpym

23,002

Tempting :) I need to find some time. I have still the previous in line for posting – percusse Jun 29 '15 at 16:06
@percusse Haha. I have things to do that I don't want to do, so I have time for codegolfing ;) But I promise to not tempt you again in the near future. – Kpym Jun 29 '15 at 16:11

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 25 '19 at 15:58

7

Jake proposes to place nodes within a matrix and draw the grid with another command. Following code proposes to draw node's contents and grid with the matrix command. in this case, all equal size nodes are drawn with a gray border and distance between columns and rows is adjusted to supperpose adjacent borders.

\documentclass[tikz,border=2mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[matrix of nodes,nodes={draw=gray, anchor=center, minimum size=.6cm}, column sep=-\pgflinewidth, row sep=-\pgflinewidth] (A) {
A & B & C & D \\
E & F &  & H \\
I & J & K & L \\
M & N & O & P\\};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

answered Mar 25 '19 at 15:58

Ignasi

136,588

Does not look nice when the contents of each cell have different width. But tunable with minimum width. – visoft Jul 29 '21 at 05:59
1

@visoft Yes, to draw a rectangular grid with a matrix you need to fix a minimum width and minimum height large enough to contain the largest contents. – Ignasi Jul 29 '21 at 09:43

TikZ (finite) grid with character in each cell

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