Problem with babel and tikz using \draw

Question

I'm trying the next code:

\documentclass[pdftex,spanish]{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

Simple arrow: 

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

but it doesn't work. It throws the errors:

• ! Argument of \language@active@arg> has an extra }.
• ! Paragraph ended before \language@active@arg> was complete.<to be read again>\par \draw[->]

What can I do if it works right without the babel package?

Answer 1

The problem is that the spanish module for babel makes > and < active characters for its special management of Spanish quotations.

Update:

With PGF/TikZ version 3.0.0 there's a babel library that solves the problems produced by changes to category codes made by some babel modules, so it's enough to load the library:

\documentclass[spanish]{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{babel}

\begin{document}

Simple arrows: 

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\tikz\draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);

\end{document}

(Thanks to Claudio Fiandrino for pointing this out in his comment).

PGF/TikZ version 2.10

To deactivate the undesired redefinition for tikzpictures, but maintaining it for other parts of the document, you can use

  execute at begin picture={\deactivatequoting},
  execute at end picture={\activatequoting}

for every tikzpicture. Notice that this approach has two advantages:

1. No extra packages are required.

2. It also produces the desired result when using the command version \tikz (see example code below).

The code:

\documentclass[spanish]{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}

\tikzset{
every picture/.append style={
  execute at begin picture={\deactivatequoting},
  execute at end picture={\activatequoting}
  }
}
\begin{document}

Simple arrows: 

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\tikz\draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);

\end{document}

As a side note, don't use pdftex option; modern LaTeX systems detect the driver automatically.

Answer 2

As noted by Malipivo, the spanish option of babel makes > active. You can make it inactive just inside (all) the tikzpicture environment locally, Add these in your preamble:

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\AtBeginEnvironment{tikzpicture}{\shorthandoff{>}\shorthandoff{<}}{}{}

Full code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[spanish]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\AtBeginEnvironment{tikzpicture}{\shorthandoff{>}\shorthandoff{<}}{}{}

\begin{document}

Simple arrow:

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 3

If you don't need to use spanish quotes, just add es-noquoting to babel options and TiKZ arrows will appear again.

\documentclass[pdftex,spanish]{article}
\usepackage[es-noquoting]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

Simple arrow: 

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document} 

If you need spanish quotes use new babel TiKZ 3.0 library (as Claudio suggested). Here you have an example:

\documentclass[pdftex,spanish]{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{babel}

\begin{document}

Simple arrow: 

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \draw[->] (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0) node[right] {<<Hola>>};
\end{tikzpicture}

<<Hola>>
\end{document}

Answer 4

I do not know why, but none of the previous answers has worked for me. They showed me the right path though; adding just

\deactivatequoting

on the preambled fixed the problem.

Calling babel with english as well as spanish does the trick, too

\usepackage[spanish,english]{babel}