tikz: Drawing rectangles of specific width next to each other with vertical lines inbetween

Question

How can I create the following result in a cleaner way (means: using relative positions) than in my given code:

Each rectangle should have a specific (minimum) width.
Bonus: I would like to use two arrays. One defines the width, the other the text content.

Example code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
 \begin{tikzpicture}
    \def\bh{0.7} %box height
    \def\sepw{1pt} %seperator line width
    \def\ta{1}
    \def\tb{1.6}
    \def\tc{0.9}
    \def\td{0.7}
    \def\te{1.9}
    \draw [line width = \sepw] (0,0) -- (0, 1);
    \draw (0,0.5 - 0.5 * \bh ) rectangle (\ta, 0.5 + 0.5 * \bh ) node[pos=.5] {A};
    \draw [line width = \sepw] (\ta,0) -- (\ta, 1);
    \draw (\ta,0.5 - 0.5 * \bh ) rectangle (\ta+\tb, 0.5 + 0.5 * \bh ) node[pos=.5] {B};
    \draw [line width = \sepw] (\ta+\tb,0) -- (\ta+\tb, 1);
    \draw (\ta+\tb,0.5 - 0.5 * \bh ) rectangle (\ta+\tb+\tc, 0.5 + 0.5 * \bh ) node[pos=.5] {A};
    \draw [line width = \sepw] (\ta+\tb+\tc,0) -- (\ta+\tb+\tc, 1);
    \draw (\ta+\tb+\tc,0.5 - 0.5 * \bh ) rectangle (\ta+\tb+\tc+\td, 0.5 + 0.5 * \bh ) node[pos=.5] {A};
    \draw [line width = \sepw] (\ta+\tb+\tc+\td,0) -- (\ta+\tb+\tc+\td, 1);
    \draw (\ta+\tb+\tc+\td,0.5 - 0.5 * \bh ) rectangle (\ta+\tb+\tc+\td+\te, 0.5 + 0.5 * \bh ) node[pos=.5] {B};
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Thanks. This led me to a promising example. I will update my example to work with nodes — jakob-r, Mar 01 '16 at 16:26

AboAmmar · Answer 1 · 2016-03-01T17:32:52.073

2

Using normal tikz commands within a \foreach loop, this can be easy. You specify only the letter and the cell width in cm.

\documentclass[border=2pt]{standalone}    
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}    
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \newcounter{shiftx} \setcounter{shiftx}{0}
  \foreach \n/\w in {A/1,B/2,A/1,A/1,B/2}{
    \node[xshift=\theshiftx cm,draw,minimum height=1cm,minimum width=\w cm,anchor=west,outer sep=0pt]{\n}; 
    \draw[xshift=\theshiftx cm,thick] (0,.6cm)--(0,-.6cm);
    \addtocounter{shiftx}{\w}
  }
\end{tikzpicture}      
\end{document}

edited Mar 01 '16 at 17:32

answered Mar 01 '16 at 17:23

AboAmmar

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add [count=\zzz from 0] to save the trouble – percusse Mar 01 '16 at 17:46
@percusse -- Unfortunately, the shift is a function of the previous shift plus \w, so I couldn't rely on the loop counter. I tried \def\shiftx{0} and \shiftx=\shiftx+\w but it didn't work. – AboAmmar Mar 01 '16 at 17:56
you also have remember ;) – percusse Mar 01 '16 at 18:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 01 '16 at 18:17

Here are two solutions. The first with a moving coordinate to position the nodes. The second via a chain (TikZ library).

1st solution

\documentclass[border=2pt]{standalone}    
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}    
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \coordinate (p);
  \foreach \n/\w in {A/1,B/2,A/1,A/1,B/2}{
    \node[draw,minimum height=1cm,minimum width=\w cm,anchor=west,outer sep=0pt]
    (n) at (p) {\n};
    \draw[thick] ([yshift=-1mm]n.south west) -- ([yshift=1mm]n.north west);
    \coordinate (p) at (n.east);
  }
\end{tikzpicture}      
\end{document}

2nd solution

\documentclass[border=2pt]{standalone}    
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{chains}
\begin{document}    
\begin{tikzpicture}
  [start chain=going right,node distance=-.5\pgflinewidth]
  \foreach \n/\w in {A/1,B/2,A/1,A/1,B/2}{
    \node[on chain,draw,minimum height=1cm,minimum width=\w cm,anchor=west,outer sep=0pt]
    (n) {\n};
    \draw[thick] ([yshift=-1mm]n.south west) -- ([yshift=1mm]n.north west);
  }
\end{tikzpicture}      
\end{document}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 02 '16 at 08:42

A matrix of nodes (matrix library) solution

\documentclass[tikz,border02mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
 \matrix (m) [matrix of nodes, 
    nodes={minimum size=1cm,draw, anchor=center},
    column 2/.style={nodes={minimum width=2cm}},
    column 5/.style={nodes={minimum width=2cm}},
    column sep=0pt,
    ]
    { A & B & A & A & B\\};
\foreach \i in {1,...,5}
    \draw[thick] ([yshift=-1mm]m-1-\i.south west)--([yshift=1mm]m-1-\i.north west);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

tikz: Drawing rectangles of specific width next to each other with vertical lines inbetween

3 Answers3

1st solution

2nd solution