How can I align text across two nodes in a Tikzpicture?

Question

Consider the following code:

\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[align=left,font={\small\bfseries}] at (-30 pt, 30pt) {99.99\%        $500 \mu s$};
\node[align=left,font={\small\bfseries}] at (-30 pt, 10pt) {Median Latency $5 \mu s$};
\end{tikzpicture}

How can I make the 500 us align with the 5 us in the rendered image?

More specifically, I want it to align almost exactly like I have it in the plain text in the code above, with the left edge of 99 aligning with the left edge of Median, as well as having the numbers line up.

I tried using & as I would when trying to align two equations, but it just causes an error.

Answer 1

If you need to place them in two separate nodes I would recommend using a \makebox:

Notes:

• I would also highly recommend you use the siunitx package for units to ensure that they are correctly and consistently formatted as I did in this example.

Code:

\documentclass[varwidth,margin=0.5cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\newcommand{\Widest}{\small\bfseries Median Latency}
\newcommand{\MakeBox}[2]{\makebox[\widthof{\Widest}][l]{#1} #2}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node[font={\small\bfseries},anchor=west] at (-30 pt, 30pt) {\MakeBox{99.99%}{$\SI{500}{\micro \second}$}};
  \node[font={\small\bfseries},anchor=west] at (-30 pt, 10pt) {\MakeBox{Median Latency}{$\SI{5}{\micro \second}$}};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 2

First solution

Using your code sample, you can use right or anchor=west to align both nodes to the left together with a makebox to make sure ensure the left part of the text takes the same space in both nodes and are vertically aligned (see @egreg comment below):

\documentclass[varwidth,margin=0.5cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node[font={\small\bfseries},left] at (-30 pt, 30pt) {\parbox{3cm}{99.99\%}$500 \mu s$};
  \node[font={\small\bfseries},left] at (-30 pt, 10pt) {\parbox{3cm}{Median Latency}$5 \mu s$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Second solution

Or you could use another node for the right part of the text (but both texts are not vertically aligned):

\documentclass[varwidth,margin=0.5cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \draw (-30 pt, 30pt) node[font={\small\bfseries},left] {99.99\%} ++(3,0) node[left] {$500 \mu s$};
  \draw (-30 pt, 10pt) node[font={\small\bfseries},left] {Median Latency} ++(3,0) node[left] {$5 \mu s$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 3

You could use a matrix of nodes, or use a multipart node, or -- depending on what you really want to do -- just place a tabular in a node. (Of course, as egreg hints at with his comment, if this isn't part of a larger tikzpicture just use a tabular and drop the tikzpicture altogether.)

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\begin{document}

\section*{With matrix}
\begin{tikzpicture}

\matrix (m) [matrix of nodes,column 1/.style={font={\small\bfseries},text width=3cm,align=left},
column 2/.style={text width=1cm,align=left}] {
99.99\% & $500\mu s$ \\
Median Latency & $5\mu s$ \\
};

% to demonstrate that individual cells can be referenced
\draw [red,latex-] (m-1-2) -- ++(0,1);

\end{tikzpicture}

\section*{Tabular in node}
\begin{tikzpicture}

\node {%
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\small\bfseries 99.99\% & $500\mu s$ \\
\small\bfseries Median Latency & $5\mu s$
\end{tabular}
};

\end{tikzpicture}

\section*{Multipart node}

\begin{tikzpicture}[splitnode/.style={rectangle split,rectangle split horizontal,rectangle split parts=2,rectangle split part align={left},text width=3cm,font={\small\bfseries}}]

\node[splitnode] at (-30 pt, 30pt) {99.99\%   \nodepart{two}$500 \mu s$};
\node[splitnode] at (-30 pt, 10pt) {Median Latency \nodepart{two}$5 \mu s$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 4

Maybe an old way of doing it in the sense that I haven't seen the command \shortstack around for many years. You can change the separation of both lines modifying the dimension in \vspace and if you don't like the 500 entering above the Latency you can add some \hspace before the $5\mu s. However, I should not align the 5 hundred with the 5 (unit), but the units with the units.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

\tikz \node[font={\small\bfseries}] {\shortstack{%
                       99.99\%\hfill $500 \mu s$\\ 
                       \vspace{1ex}             \\
                       Median Latency $5 \mu s$}};

\end{document}

As @egreg has suggested, tabular is probably the best way of doing it but if you want less separation between both lines, you must add negative \vspacein the middle row.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

\tikz \node[font={\small\bfseries}] {%
        \begin{tabular}{ll}%{l@{}r}
          99.99\%        & $500 \mu s$ \\
          \vspace{0pt}   &             \\
          Median Latency & $5   \mu s$
        \end{tabular}};

\end{document}