# How to insert math with curly brackets into tikz decoration text along path?

I was going to write along an arc some math expression with curly brackets. Somehow the following snippet causes pdflatex to freeze.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.text}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw[->,blue,
postaction={decorate,decoration={text along path, raise=4pt,
text={ $\{ hello \}${} },text color=blue,
text align={align=center}}}] (0,5) arc (90:0:5);

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


How can I do it otherwise?

-

One way to do is to use {$\lbrace$} and the corresponding {$\rbrace$}:

text={{$\lbrace$}hello{$\rbrace$}}


which yields:

Alternatively you could use:

text={{\textbraceleft}hello{\textbraceright}}


## Notes:

• Note the additional set of braces.

• The TikZ/PGF manual states for text deocrations:

• Each character in the text is typeset in a separate \hbox...

...

• It is only possible to typeset text in math mode under considerable restrictions. Math mode is entered and exited using any character of category code 3 (e.g., in plain TEX this is $). Math subscripts and superscripts need to be contained within braces (e.g., {^y_i}) as do commands like \times or \cdot. However, even modestly complex mathematical typesetting is unlikely to be successful along a path (or even desirable). ## Code: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{decorations} \usetikzlibrary{decorations.text} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \draw[->,blue, postaction={decorate,decoration={text along path, raise=4pt, text={{$\lbrace$}hello{$\rbrace}},text color=blue, text align={align=center}}}] (0,5) arc (90:0:5); \end{tikzpicture} \end{document}  ## Bizarre Behavior: Using text={hello$}, I get: - I noticed that bizarre behavior too. You can prevent it by adding {} after$. – mlt Oct 4 '12 at 6:42
@mlt Thanks, I was currently stuck with that same problem. Has this ever been reported as a bug in TikZ? – feculededentier Mar 2 '15 at 15:51
Also worth noting: if you want to use a macro inside the math text (within the decoration), you will need an extra pair of brackets encompassing that macro. For example: decoration={text along path, text align=center, text={${\overline{s}}${}}, raise=18pt} – feculededentier Mar 2 '15 at 16:05