# Tikz: How put text at specified location?

How do I correct the 3 lines with \node expressions immediately preceding \end{tikzpicture} so that the indicated "labels" a, b, c are near the points described in the trailing comments there?

\documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,decorations.markings,plotmarks}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
middlearrow/.style 2 args={
decoration={markings, mark=at position 0.5 with {\arrow{>}, \node[#1]{#2};}
},
postaction={decorate}
},
]
\draw (0,0) rectangle (4,4);
\draw (0,4) -- (2, 0) -- (4, 4);
\draw[middlearrow={below}{$\sigma$}]    (0,0) -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={below}{$\sigma$}]    (4,0) -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={above}{$\nu_{x}$}]   (0,4) -- (4,4);
\draw[middlearrow={right}{$\sigma$}]    (0,4) -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={right}{$\sigma$}]    (4,4) -- (2,0);
(0,0) \node[anchor=north east] {$x$};
(4,0) \node[anchor=north west] {$a$};  % want it near corner (4, 0)
(0,2) \node[anchor=east]{$b$};        % want it near point (0, 2)
(4,2) \node[anchor=west]{$c$};        % want it near point (4, 2)
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


Please be gentle! I realize that this is a very basic question. But I'm a rank beginner at TikZ and still trying to comprehend its weird mixture of several different syntactical schemes and bewildering supply of commands, actions, and options.

Note: If you can suggest any simplifications to the code, I'd appreciate that, too!

• use either \draw (4,0) node {$a$}; or \node at (4,0) {$a$}; – nidhin Oct 1 '20 at 17:46

To place a node at some coordinate, you can use either \node

\node at (0,0) {origin};


or \draw

\draw (0,0) node {origin};


So the last four lines have to be rewritten.

\draw (0,0) node[anchor=north east] {$x$}
(4,0) node[anchor=north west] {$a$}  % want it near corner (4, 0)
(0,2) node[anchor=east]{$b$}        % want it near point (0, 2)
(4,2) node[anchor=west]{$c$};        % want it near point (4, 2)


The same result can be obtained with the following code also

\documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
middlearrow/.style 2 args={
decoration={markings, mark=at position 0.5 with {\arrow{>}, \node[#1]{#2};}
},
postaction={decorate}
},
]
\draw[middlearrow={below}{$\sigma$}]    (0,0)node[anchor=north east]{$x$} -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={below}{$\sigma$}]    (4,0)node[anchor=north west]{$a$} -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={above}{$\nu_{x}$}]   (0,4) -- (4,4);
\draw[middlearrow={right}{$\sigma$}]    (0,4) -- (2,0);
\draw[middlearrow={right}{$\sigma$}]    (4,4) -- (2,0);
\draw (0,0) -- (0,4) node[midway,left]{$b$};
\draw (4,0) -- (4,4) node[midway,right]{$c$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}