# Placing a node label in a specific location

I need the \alpha_1 to be a bit close to the corner, it should be placed "nicely".

I tried the following code (with various numbers in label distance/angle):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\pagenumbering{gobble} % Remove the page numbering

\begin{tikzpicture}

\coordinate (orig) at (0,0);
%node[label={[label distance=0.05cm]90:$i_a$}]
\draw[->] (orig) -- (90:1) node[above] (ia) {$i_a$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (10:1) node[right] (ib) {$i_b$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (-45:1) node[right] (ic) {$i_c$};

\draw[blue] (10:0.2) arc (10:90:0.2) node[label={[label distance=-0.01cm]3:$\alpha_1$}] (asd) {};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


while yields the less attractive result:

But I want something like:

For some reason the code seems to behave in a manner that it's dodging from that corner... Many numbers which I tried simply avoided anywhere near that corner.

• how about inner sep=0? – Symbol 1 Mar 18 '17 at 0:35
• @Symbol1 Do you mean node[inner sep=0,  ?? It doesn't seem to improve much.. – Dor Mar 18 '17 at 0:51
• Have you considered using the angles library? – cfr Mar 18 '17 at 2:07

The angles and quotes libraries together make this much easier.

\documentclass[border=10pt,multi,tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{angles,quotes}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\coordinate (orig) at (0,0);
\draw[->] (orig) -- (90:1) node[above] (ia) {$i_a$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (10:1) node[right] (ib) {$i_b$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (-45:1) node[right] (ic) {$i_c$};
\pic [draw, blue, angle radius=2mm, "$\alpha_1$", angle eccentricity=2] {angle=ib--orig--ia};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


• Thanks! I tried using angles before submitting the current question - but it was giving me an error. Now - everything works fine. It seems that the code \documentclass[border=10pt,multi,tikz]{standalone} is necessary - why? (Still I'd rather be familiar with additional method that allows adjusting the position manually) – Dor Mar 18 '17 at 10:27
• @Dor You can use a different class as long as you load tikz afterwards. – cfr Mar 18 '17 at 18:25

It is easier to put the text inside node and move the node itself using postioning library:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\begin{document}
\pagenumbering{gobble} % Remove the page numbering

\begin{tikzpicture}

\coordinate (orig) at (0,0);
%node[label={[label distance=0.05cm]90:$i_a$}]
\draw[->] (orig) -- (90:1) node[above] (ia) {$i_a$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (10:1) node[right] (ib) {$i_b$};
\draw[->] (orig) -- (-45:1) node[right] (ic) {$i_c$};

\draw[blue] (10:0.2) node[above right=0.1ex and -1ex]
(asd) {\color{blue}$\alpha_1$} arc (10:90:0.2) ;

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


• You don't need the positioning library for that because you are using the deprecated syntax. – cfr Mar 18 '17 at 2:16
• :)) TikZ changes so fast... – Boris Mar 18 '17 at 2:24
• Indeed. It does. Are you going to update? – cfr Mar 18 '17 at 2:29
• Which syntax is now used? – Boris Mar 18 '17 at 5:13
• Thanks - where do I read about its syntax? (since that positioning is deprecated) – Dor Mar 18 '17 at 10:33