Tikz: Arrow tip overlaps with node

Question

I am currently using GeoGebra to generate Tikz code. So my directed edges are written as something like

\begin{tikzpicture}[line cap=round,line join=round,>=triangle 45,x=1.0cm,y=1.0cm]
\clip(0.36,0.28) rectangle (6.72,3.82);

\draw [->] (5.9,0.74) -- (2.26,2.76);

\fill [color=qqwwqq] (2.26,2.76) circle (2pt);
\draw[color=qqwwqq] (2.56,3.02) node {$y$};

\end{tikzpicture}

which gives me nearly exactly what I want aside from the fact that the arrow tip and the node slightly overlap (see picture).

One solution would be to shorten the line segment by a small amount manually. However, this might not be the smartest approach for larger graphs with lots of directed edges.

Is there any way I could resolve this issue easily? E.g. by automatically shortening each edge slightly such that the arrow tip ends at the beginning of the circle?

Answer 1

You can definitely shorten all arrowtips by the amount of a dot radius via

\tikzset{shorten >= 2pt}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{qqwwqq}{green!50!black}

\begin{document}

\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line cap=round,line join=round,>=triangle 45,x=1.0cm,y=1.0cm]
\tikzset{shorten >= 2pt}

\clip(0.36,0.28) rectangle (6.72,3.82);

\draw [->] (5.9,0.74) -- (2.26,2.76);

\fill [color=qqwwqq] (2.26,2.76) circle (2pt);
\draw[color=qqwwqq] (2.56,3.02) node {$y$};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Place the node at the desired coordinates with shape and label information, and give it a name (I used Y). Then draw the line to the node, not to the coordinates, using \draw [->] (5.9,0.74) -- (Y);. You increase the outer sep if you want a little space between the arrow and the circle.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[line cap=round,line join=round,>=triangle 45,x=1.0cm,y=1.0cm]

\node[circle, inner sep=1.5pt, outer sep=0, fill=green!30!black, label={[green!30!black]above right:$y$}] at (2.25,2.75) (Y){};
\draw [->] (6,0.75) -- (Y);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}