Using multiple styles inside a TikZ node label

Question

I would like to do something like:

using PGF styles in TikZ

Here is the code:

\documentclass[tikz,convert={outfile=mwe.png}]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\pgfkeys{%
  /tikz/style A/.style = {text=blue},
  /tikz/style B/.style = {text=red},
}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node [thin, draw, style A] at (1,3) {Style A};
  \node [thin, draw, style B] at (1,2) {Style B};
  \node [thin, draw] at (1,1) {Style A + Style B};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

But the "Style A + Style B" is always the same color. How can I do to get "Style A" in style A and "Style B" in style b and the "+" in the node style?

Of course I could use something like {\color{blue}Style A} + {\color{red}Style B} but it's not very flexible. I prefer to use styles instead.

Thanks in advance.

So, do you want it so that only "Style A" uses style A? As in, a defined set of words is written like that? Or any text? Because the solutions might change. — Alenanno, Aug 04 '16 at 11:08
Then automatic becomes more difficult. How would you distinguish what text is colored with which color? There needs to be a rule for Latex to use, it cannot read your mind. :D — Alenanno, Aug 04 '16 at 11:17
I was wondering how I can write something like: \node [thin, draw] at (1,1) {\tikzusestyle[style a]{Style A} + \tikzusestyle[style a]{Style B}}; or something similar. — renard, Aug 04 '16 at 11:35

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:32

If you want this to work for any text then I can see two options which allow you to keep the flexability in that you only need to change the color once.

The first method uses \colorlet to define the colors to use and then applies the solution you proposed via \textcolor.

\colorlet{StyleAColor}{blue}
\colorlet{StyleBColor}{red}
\tikzset{
    style A/.style={text=StyleAColor},
    style B/.style={text=StyleBColor},
}
\node [thin, draw] at (1,1) {\textcolor{StyleAColor}{Style A} + \textcolor{StyleBColor}{Style B}};

The second option involves nesting tikzpictures and this is not recommended:

\node [thin, draw] at (1,0) {
    {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[style A, Inner Style] {Style A};} 
    {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[Inner Style] {+};}
    {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[style B, Inner Style] {Style B};}

Code:

\documentclass[border=2pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{StyleAColor}{blue}
\colorlet{StyleBColor}{red}
\tikzset{
    Inner Style/.style={inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt},
    style A/.style={text=StyleAColor},
    style B/.style={text=StyleBColor},
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node [thin, draw, style A] at (1,3) {Style A};
  \node [thin, draw, style B] at (1,2) {Style B};
  \node [thin, draw] at (1,1) {\textcolor{StyleAColor}{Style A} + \textcolor{StyleBColor}{Style B}};
  \node [thin, draw] at (1,0) {
      {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[style A, Inner Style] {Style A};} 
      {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[Inner Style] {+};}
      {\tikz[baseline=0pt] \node[style B, Inner Style] {Style B};}
  };
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

The nesting tikzpictures suits me. Why is not recommended to use them? — renard, Aug 04 '16 at 11:40
@renard: Have a look at Problem with overlay when a tikzpicture is inside another tikzpicture. If that is not satisfactory, you should post a general question. — Peter Grill, Aug 04 '16 at 11:45

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 04 '16 at 12:49

Based on @peter-grill's answer (thanks to him) I came up with that working solution that work for my needs:

\documentclass[tikz,convert={outfile=mwe.png}]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\pgfkeys{%
  /tikz/Inner Style/.style={ultra thin, draw},
  /tikz/style A/.style = {text=blue},
  /tikz/style B/.style = {text=red},
  /tikz/nested/.style = {%
    baseline=(current bounding box.base),
    every node/.append style={inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, anchor=base, Inner Style},
  },
}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node [thin, draw, nested] at (1,-1) {%
    {\tikz \node[style A]{e};}%
    {\tikz \node[]{epe};}%
    {\tikz \node[style B]{e};}
  };
  \node [thin, draw, nested] at (1,0) {%
    {\tikz \node[style A]{Style a};}%
    {\tikz \node[]{+};}%
    {\tikz \node[style B]{Style b};}
  };

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Note: The trick is to play with the baseline and anchor options.

Using multiple styles inside a TikZ node label

2 Answers2

Code: