Move arrow descriptions/labels in tikz, so that they do not overlap

Question

I am using this piece of commands:

\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \begin{tikzpicture}[->,>=stealth',shorten >=1pt,auto,node distance=4cm,
                thick,main node/.style={circle,draw,font=\Large\bfseries}]
        \node[main node] (S) {$S$};
        \node[main node] (R) [below left of=S] {$R$};
        \node[main node] (B) [below right of=S] {$B$};
    \path
    (S) edge [loop above] node {0.4} (S)
        edge [bend right] node {0.2} (R)
        edge node [above] {0.4} (B)
    (R) edge node [below] {0.15} (S)
        edge [loop left] node {0.5} (R)
        edge node [below] {0.35} (B)
    (B) edge [bend right] node {0.2} (S)
        edge [bend left] node {0.35} (R)
        edge [loop right] node {0.45} (B);



\end{tikzpicture}
\caption {Your caption here}
\label{fig:your _ label _ here}


\end{figure}

This is the result:

As you can see the labels on the arrows are overlapping on each other but also on the arrows themselves. How can I avoid this?

Answer 1

You can use swap for this purpose:

Note: Consider changing from the arrows library to arrows.meta.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[->,>=stealth,shorten >=1pt,auto,node distance=4cm,
            thick,main node/.style={circle,draw,font=\Large\bfseries}]
    \node[main node] (S) {$S$};
    \node[main node] (R) [below left of=S] {$R$};
    \node[main node] (B) [below right of=S] {$B$};
    \path
    (S) edge [loop above] node {0.4} (S)
        edge [bend right] node[swap] {0.2} (R)
        edge node [swap] {0.4} (B)
    (R) edge node [swap] {0.15} (S)
        edge [loop left] node {0.5} (R)
        edge node [above] {0.35} (B)
    (B) edge [bend right] node[swap] {0.2} (S)
        edge [bend left] node {0.35} (R)
        edge [loop right] node {0.45} (B);   
\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}

Answer 2

For fun, a way to obtain this diagram with pstricks– more precisely with the psmatrix environment from pst-node:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pst-node}
\begin{document}
\begin{psmatrix}[rowsep=2cm]
%%% Matrix nodes
 & \circlenode{S}{S} \
\circlenode{R}{R} & & \circlenode{B}{B}
%% Line Arrows
\psset{arrows=->, arrowinset=0.2, nodesep=0pt, nrot=:U}
\ncline{R}{S} \nbput{0.15}
\ncline{R}{B} \naput{0.35}
\ncline{S}{B} \nbput{0.35}
%% Curved Arrows
\psset{arcangle=30, arrows=<- }
\ncarc{R}{S} \naput{0.2}
\ncarc{S}{B} \naput{0.2}
\ncarc[arcangle=-30]{R}{B} \nbput{0.35}
\end{psmatrix}
\end{document} 

Answer 3

By use of quotes library and ' as an abbreviation for swap option:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,
                positioning,
                quotes}
\usepackage{bm}
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
node distance = 4cm and 3cm,
     N/.style = {circle, draw, font=\Large, 
                 minimum size=1.1em},
       every edge/.style = {draw, -Stealth, semithick, shorten >=1pt},
every edge quotes/.style = {auto=right, inner sep=2pt}
                        ]
\node[N] (S) {$\bm{S}$};
\node[N] (R) [below left of=S] {$\bm{R}$};
\node[N] (B) [below right of=S] {$\bm{B}$};
%
\path   (S) edge [loop above,"0.4" ']   ()
            edge [bend right,"0.2"]     (R)
            edge ["0.4"]                (B) 
        (R) edge [loop left,"0.5" ']    ()
            edge ["0.15"]               (S)
            edge ["0.35"]               (B)
        (B) edge [loop right,"0.45" ']  ()
            edge [bend right,"0.2"]     (S)
            edge [bend left,".35"]      (R)
            ;
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}