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Is there some macro that will tell me what the default PGF line width is? I have tried creating my own macro by cloning \pgflinewidth before it has been modified, i.e.
\let\defaultlinewidth\pgflinewidth
but \defaultlinewidth seems to be affected by \pgfsetlinewidth anyway, and change to whatever \pgflinewidth is. So, the problem is that after I have called \pgfsetlinewidth, I don't know what the default pgf line width is anymore. Is there some way to get around this?
\pgflinewidth is a length. So you can use \setlength to copy its current value:
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newlength{\defaultpgflinewidth}
\setlength{\defaultpgflinewidth}{\pgflinewidth}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line width=1mm]
\draw circle [radius=1cm];
\draw[line width=\defaultpgflinewidth] (-1cm,-1cm) rectangle (1cm,1cm);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Edit (suggestion from Christian Feuersänger)
You can also use \edef to make a copy of the current representation of this length.
\edef\defaultpgflinewidth{\the\pgflinewidth}
\setlength you have to use to copy a length, do you know why \let doesn't work?
Aug 4, 2012 at 15:17
\let will create another name for the same dimen register. It is like creating a new pointer to the same object. But you want a copy, not a reference - in that case, you can use the \setlength solution (as here, although this might waste a TeX register) or you use \edef\defaultpgflinewidth{\the\pgflinewidth} which will also store a copy (but into a cheap macro).
Aug 4, 2012 at 19:34
\edef solution if you would want to define a length that is a factor a length, for example 1.5\pgflinewidth? I have tried \edef\mylength{1.5\the\pgflinewidth} and \edef\mylength{\the{1.5\pgflinewidth}} but both of those give me an error. \setlength still works fine, though.
Aug 13, 2012 at 13:37
\pgflinewidth: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/185163/…
You can always query PGF directly:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \width [count=\yi] in {ultra thin,very thin,thin,semithick, thick, very thick, ultra thick}
\node[\width] at (0,-0.5*\yi) {The value with the \texttt{\width} option is \the\pgflinewidth};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
In a similar way, you can define a command to keep the default value:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand\defvalue{%
\tikz[baseline=-0.5ex]\node[line width=\pgflinewidth] {The default value is \the\pgflinewidth};}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\pgfsetlinewidth{3pt}
\draw (0,3ex) -- (1,3ex);
\node at (6,3ex) {The current value is \the\pgflinewidth. \defvalue};
\pgfsetlinewidth{3mm}
\draw (0,-1cm) -- (1,-1cm);
\node at (6,-1cm) {The current value is \the\pgflinewidth. \defvalue};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
\the command that makes the wonder here. I found this thread about the command here; it seems to be the key to what I was trying to do before. I guess what it does, in short, is to extracts the value of what comes next, expressed as a physical or unitless quantity? Thank you very much anyway.
Aug 4, 2012 at 16:36
\the applied to a length expands to the length value (with the unit given in pt).
Aug 4, 2012 at 16:46
If you mean the standard line width, it's 0.4 pt or the setting thin.
\tikzstyle{ultra thin}= [line width=0.1pt]
\tikzstyle{very thin}= [line width=0.2pt]
\tikzstyle{thin}= [line width=0.4pt]
\tikzstyle{semithick}= [line width=0.6pt]
\tikzstyle{thick}= [line width=0.8pt]
\tikzstyle{very thick}= [line width=1.2pt]
\tikzstyle{ultra thick}= [line width=1.6pt]
tikz.code.tex for these settings)
pgfmanual will tell you the values.
line width you would have found 15.3.1 Graphic Parameters: Line Width, Line Cap, and Line Join (pgfmanual version October 25, 2010).
Aug 4, 2012 at 6:51
15.3.1 did contain the information (and the source) I was looking for, which of course told me what percusse had already said. I has been searching for pgflinewidth and thought that would give me the answer I wanted.
Aug 4, 2012 at 9:48