How to scale a tikzpicture to \textwidth

Question

I would like to scale my tikzpicture to exactly (or a proportion of) the \textwidth

Of course I could play with the [scale=0.5] option until I found the right value, but I assume there must be an easier way.

How to get a properly scaled (the fonts still must be correct) tikzpicture with an exact width.

Answer 1

This question was asked on comp.text.tex and received a good answer by Ulrike Fischer. It works by typesetting the {tikzpicture} once, measure its width and then retypeset it to the correct width by automatically computing the required scale.

Here's a more user-friendly interface for this solution using the environ package. It works by using a {scaletikzpicturetowidth} environment with the desired width as first argument in combination with specifying the [scale=\tikzscale] option to the tikzpicture. For example, to scale a tikzpicture to \textwidth, you would use:

\begin{center}
\begin{scaletikzpicturetowidth}{\textwidth}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=\tikzscale]
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1) node[below left] {$A$};
\draw (2,1) circle (1cm) node [below] {$B$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{scaletikzpicturetowidth}
\end{center}

Here's a complete compilable code which shows both the unscaled tikzpicture and the scaled one:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{environ}
\makeatletter
\newsavebox{\measure@tikzpicture}
\NewEnviron{scaletikzpicturetowidth}[1]{%
  \def\tikz@width{#1}%
  \def\tikzscale{1}\begin{lrbox}{\measure@tikzpicture}%
  \BODY
  \end{lrbox}%
  \pgfmathparse{#1/\wd\measure@tikzpicture}%
  \edef\tikzscale{\pgfmathresult}%
  \BODY
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1) node[below left] {$A$};
\draw (2,1) circle (1cm) node [below] {$B$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\begin{center}
\begin{scaletikzpicturetowidth}{\textwidth}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=\tikzscale]
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1) node[below left] {$A$};
\draw (2,1) circle (1cm) node [below] {$B$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{scaletikzpicturetowidth}
\end{center}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\end{document}

If you need to use the external tikzlibrary, here is a workaround:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{environ}
\usetikzlibrary{external}\tikzexternalize%\tikzset{external/force remake}
\makeatletter
\newcounter{tikz@scale@num}
\newsavebox{\measure@tikzpicture}
\NewEnviron{scaletikzpicturetowidth}[2][]{%
  % optional argument #1 is passed to \tikzsetnextfilename if not empty
  \stepcounter{tikz@scale@num}%
  \def\tikz@width{#2}%
  \def\tikzscale{1}\begin{lrbox}{\measure@tikzpicture}%
  \BODY
  \end{lrbox}%
  \pgfmathparse{#2/\wd\measure@tikzpicture}%
  \ifcsname tikzscale\number\value{tikz@scale@num}\endcsname\else
      \expandafter\xdef\csname tikzscale\number\value{tikz@scale@num}\endcsname{\pgfmathresult}%
  \fi
  \tikzset{external/system call={pdflatex \tikzexternalcheckshellescape -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "\image" "\string\expandafter\string\edef\string\csname\space tikzscale\number\value{tikz@scale@num}\string\endcsname{\csname tikzscale\number\value{tikz@scale@num}\endcsname}\texsource"}}%
  \edef\tikzscale{\csname tikzscale\number\value{tikz@scale@num}\endcsname}%
  \ifcat$#1$\else\tikzsetnextfilename{#1}\fi
  \BODY
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1) node[below left] {$A$};
\draw (2,1) circle (1cm) node [below] {$B$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\begin{center}
\begin{scaletikzpicturetowidth}{\textwidth}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=\tikzscale]
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1) node[below left] {$A$};
\draw (2,1) circle (1cm) node [below] {$B$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{scaletikzpicturetowidth}
\end{center}
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
\end{document}

If you need to use \tikzsetnextfilename{name} for an automatically scaled picture, use instead the syntax \begin{scaletikzpicturetowidth}[name]{\textwidth}.

Answer 2

1)

For smaller tikzpictures you can simply use the \resizebox macro from the graphics (or graphicx) package:

\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{%
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \draw (0,0) .... ;
\end{tikzpicture}
}%

However, this makes the picture part of a macro argument which e.g. doesn't allow verbatim text inside nodes. TikZ itself goes through some effort to process the node content as box not as macro argument to allow any form of code inside it, including verbatim.

The use of the environ package should be also avoided in the general case because it also makes the environment body a macro argument.

---

2)

In can simply define your own environment using lrbox like in Philippe's answer, but as normal environment and with \resizebox:

\newsavebox\mybox
\newenvironment{resizedtikzpicture}[1]{%
  \def\mywidth{#1}%
  \begin{lrbox}{\mybox}%
  \begin{tikzpicture}
}{%
  \end{tikzpicture}%
  \end{lrbox}%
  \resizebox{\mywidth}{!}{\usebox\mybox}%
}
%
% Usage example:
\begin{resizedtikzpicture}{\textwidth}[<tikz options>]
  \draw .... ;
\end{resizedtikzpicture}

---

3)

I recently created the package adjustbox to give users the power of \includegraphics options for text or other contents. This can be used here nicely:

% Preamble
\usepackage{adjustbox}

% Document
\begin{adjustbox}{width=\textwidth}% there is also 'max width' to only scale it down if it is larger
\begin{tikzpicture}[<options>]
  \draw .... ;
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{adjustbox}

It supports verbatim and other special content and will work for normal text as well as other picture environments.

Answer 3

Maybe the most simple way to use relative coordinates is using scale=\textwidth/1cm and then only use values between 0 and 1 for your coordinates (assuming your basic scale size is 1cm). You could also estimate the size of your figure and use the same trick. I had that problem since the figure was already done and I wanted to scale it afterwards.

\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=\textwidth/15.2cm,samples=200]
    %x axis
    \draw[->] (-0.1,0) -- (15.1,0) node[below] {$x$};

    %y axis
    \draw[->] (0,-0.1) -- (0,6.1) node[left] {$y$};

    %exponential function
    \draw[color=red, thick, domain=0.0:9.5] plot[id=efunc] function{1.5**(x-5) - 1.5**(-5) + 0.1} node[color=red, anchor=west] {$y = e^x$};

    %logistic function
    \draw[color=blue, thick, domain=0.0:15.0] plot[id=logfunc] function{5/(1 + 2**(-x+7.5)) - 5/(1 + 2**(7.5)) + 0.1} node[color=blue, anchor=north east] {$y = \cfrac{1}{1 + e^{-x}}$};
\end{tikzpicture}

Answer 4

Here a solution based on Philippe Goutet's answer from an idea of Ulrike Fischer. I created a new environment tikzpicture*. The main idea now it's to avoid to use multiple environments. Only one is necessary tikzpicture*. Normally it's possible to use options like with tikzpicture. I made some tests but It would be interesting to make more tests.

Firstly, I suppose that the user wants to adjust all the figures to the same width. I chose \linewidth by default. The user needs to set up the parameters with \setupscalewithtikz. This macro requieres one argument (a length) to apply to newwidth . It's possible to change the value of \newwidth with \setlength{\newwidth}{length}.

Here an example :

\documentclass[landscape]{article}
\usepackage{fullpage,tikz}
\usepackage{environ,amsmath,multicol} 

\makeatletter
\newcommand*\setupscalewithtikz[1][\linewidth]{%
\newsavebox{\box@tikzpicture}
\newlength{\newwidth}
\setlength{\newwidth}{#1} 
}
\NewEnviron{tikzpicture*}[1][]{%
  \begin{lrbox}{\box@tikzpicture}%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[#1]
     \BODY
  \end{tikzpicture}% 
  \end{lrbox}%
  \pgfmathsetmacro\width@scale@picture{\newwidth/\wd\box@tikzpicture}%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[#1,scale=\width@scale@picture]
    \BODY
  \end{tikzpicture}% 
}%
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\parindent=0pt 

\def\somecode{%
  \draw[fill=red!20] (0,0) rectangle (1.2,1.2) coordinate (A);
  \draw[fill=blue!20][rotate around ={-atan(4/3):(A)}](A) rectangle ++(1.5,1.5);
  \draw[fill=green!20] (1.2,0) rectangle +(0.9,-0.9);
}  

\setlength\columnsep{1ex} 
\setlength\columnseprule{0.5 pt}   
\begin{multicols}{2}[Some squares with the environment \emph{tikzpicture*}]
\setupscalewithtikz % adapt automatically to \linewidth

    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \somecode  
    \end{tikzpicture} 

    \begin{tikzpicture*}
      \somecode 
    \end{tikzpicture*}  

    \setlength{\newwidth}{1cm} 
    \begin{tikzpicture*}
      \somecode 
    \end{tikzpicture*}

    \setlength{\newwidth}{6cm}
    \begin{tikzpicture*}
      \somecode 
    \end{tikzpicture*}  
\end{multicols}     
\end{document}

Answer 5

A new package tikzscale was created in 2012, originated from this answer. It states that it scales plots most accurately compared to standard pgfplots methods.

In its documentation there is a good overview of means to scale pictures with and without scaling fonts.

Answer 6

You may simply set \pgfplotsset{compat=x.xx, width=\textwidth} as the following example if you use pgfplots.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[h]
    \pgfplotsset{compat=1.16, width=\columnwidth}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \begin{axis}
            \addplot[
                red,
                domain=-3e-3:3e-3,
                samples=201,
            ]
                {exp(-x^2 / (2e-3^2)) / (1e-3 * sqrt(2*pi))};
        \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[2-5]
\end{document}

Answer 7

The solutions so far work fine if the picture scales linarly with its scale factor. However, if there are text nodes that extend the bounding box or excessive line widths, this assumption doesn't hold.

Instead, I'll assume that the width of a picure follows an affine linear equation w = a * x + b, where x is the scaling factor and a and b are constants determined by the picture.

My idea is to measure the width of the picture at two different scaling factors and then compute the correct factor. The macro \affinescale gets four parameters: The desired width, the two scaling factors to sample at and the code for the picture. Inside the code, \affinex contains the scaling factor. The user can decide how the y axis should be scaled and this construct is not limited to tikzpictures.

The two sample points should be chosen such that they're reasonably close to the correct value because there can be nonlinearities in the scaling behavior of a picture, see my examples 3 and 4 below.

Code

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\newdimen\affinex
\newcommand{\affinescale}[4]{{%
    % #1 = desired width w
    % #2 = \affinex for first measurement x1
    % #3 = \affinex for second measurement x2
    % #4 = code to draw picture
    %
    % take first measurement
    \affinex=#2
    \setbox0=\hbox{{\ignorespaces #4\unskip}}%
    %\copy0
    %\hbox{x1 = \the\affinex, w1 = \the\wd0}%
    %
    % take second measurement
    \affinex=#3
    \setbox1=\hbox{{\ignorespaces #4\unskip}}%
    %\copy1
    %\hbox{x2 = \the\affinex, w2 = \the\wd1}%
    %
    % calculate x from 2, w1, w2, x1, x2; system of equations to solve:
    % w  = a * x  + b ; desired dimensions
    % w1 = a * x1 + b ; measurement 1
    % w2 = a * x2 + b ; measurement 2
    \pgfmathparse{(\wd1 - \wd0) / ((#3) - (#2))}%
    \let\a=\pgfmathresult
    \pgfmathparse{(\wd0 - \a * (#2))}%
    \let\b=\pgfmathresult
    \pgfmathsetlength{\affinex}{((#1) - \b) / \a}%
    %\hbox{a = \a, b = \b, x = \the\affinex}%
    %
    % finally, draw the picture
    \ignorespaces #4\unskip%
}}

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}

\begin{document}
    Example 1: scale x and y by the same factor

    \vrule width 5cm height 1pt depth 0pt

    \affinescale{5cm}{2cm}{3cm}{
        \begin{tikzpicture}[x=\affinex,y=\affinex]
            \draw (2,0) node[below right] {(2,0)}
               -- (1,2) node[above]       {(1,2)}
               -- (0,0) node[below left]  {(0,0)}
               -- cycle;
        \end{tikzpicture}
    }

    Example 2: only scale x

    \vrule width 10cm height 1pt depth 0pt

    \affinescale{10cm}{0.9cm}{1.1cm}{
        \begin{tikzpicture}[x=\affinex]
            \draw[line width=10pt,black!20!white] (0,0) rectangle (10,1);
            \draw (0,0) node[above right] {(0,0)} rectangle (10,1) node[below left] {(10,1)};
            \node[right=5pt] at (10,.5) {node text};
        \end{tikzpicture}
    }

    Example 3: node sticks out to the right

    \vrule width 5cm height 1pt depth 0pt

    \affinescale{5cm}{2cm}{3cm}{
        \begin{tikzpicture}[x=\affinex]
            \draw[dashed] (0,0) -- (1,0) node[midway,above right] {piecewise linear width};
        \end{tikzpicture}
    }

    Example 4: due to scaling, node doesn't stick out anymore

    \vrule width 10cm height 1pt depth 0pt

    \affinescale{10cm}{8cm}{9cm}{
        \begin{tikzpicture}[x=\affinex]
            \draw[dashed] (0,0) -- (1,0) node[midway,above right] {piecewise linear width};
        \end{tikzpicture}
    }
\end{document}

Result

Maybe this could be extended to some kind of iteration scheme to always figure out the correct scaling factor, but I'm scared of the TeX wizardry that would entail. Also, it would be nice to save the scaling factor in the aux file to avoid typesetting the figure three times for every run of LaTeX.