Draw Inline Symbol List with Rotation using Tikz

tikz-pgftikz-pic

Let's say I have the following string list of symbol: {a,b,+,9,3}.

Is there a way to print each element of this list with the possibility – EDIT 1: to control the space between each symbol and – to change some property (e.g. the rotate angle or color shade) and all this using pic and decoration if possible?

So, with this kind of code (1,2):

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings,positioning}

\tikzset{%
symbols/.pic={% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/350347/262081
    \node{a,b,+,9,3};% Not working !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
},%
    inlinesymbols/.style={%
        decoration={%
            markings,%
            mark =%
                between positions 0 and 1 step 5mm % adjust step size here
                with {{\pgfmathsetmacro{\myangle}{360*rnd}%
                      \pic[rotate=\myangle] {symbols};}% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/576704/262081
                    }%
        },%
        postaction={decorate}%
    },%
}%

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture} 
\path[inlinesymbols] (0,0) -- (2,0);%
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

I would like to obtain something like this:

With the horizontal space between each symbol set for e.g. by decoration mark step (set to 5mm in the exemple above) or something else.

If it's not possible with a Tikz decoration or even a pic I'm also aware of alternative ways but with the possibility of changing some parameters (as the rotation angle) if possible.

EDIT 2: Why I want that ?

I would like to be able to inline (horizontally) draw a list of symbol regardless of the number of elements in this list and with the possibility of controling the space between each symbol and some property (e.g. rotation, shade, color) set for all symbol (i.e. the property is aplied to all symbols globally).

So, the use of Tikz pics and decoration are not mandatory but I like to use them.

EDIT 4: Final Working attempt

The Sandy G's answer below can be use in a Pic and so in a decoration:

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}

\newcommand{\hsp}{.5}

\tikzset{symbols/.pic={%
    \foreach \s[count=\n from 0] in {a,b,c,f}{%
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\myangle}{360*rnd}%
    \node[anchor=base, inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, rotate=\myangle] at (\hsp*\n,0){\s};%
}},%
    inlinesymbols/.style={%
        decoration={%
            markings,%
            mark =%
                between positions 0 and 1 step 30mm % adjust step size here
                with {\pic[red] {symbols};}%
        },%
        postaction={decorate}%
    },%
}%

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}%[baseline]
\pic[red] {symbols};%
\path[inlinesymbols] (0,-1) -- (4,-1);%
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This permits to repeat the pattern and also – as Sandy G's method does – to individually set property to one symbol (as for the rotate angle in the above exemple) and globally (as for the red color in e.g.).

EDIT 3: First attempt

I tried something using listoftitems package in order to slipt the comma separated list and loop under the list elements (compared to the previous M(Non)WE above, the new lines of code are encapsulated between the tags: % < Begin NEW > and % < End NEW >).

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings,positioning}
\usepackage{listofitems}

\def\mysymbollist{a,b,+,9,3}

\tikzset{%
% < Begin NEW >
\setsepchar{,}%
\readlist\mylist\mysymbollist
\foreachitem\x\in\mylist{%
\def\mymacroname{symbols\xcnt}%
\mymacroname/.pic={%
    \node{\x};%
},}%
% < End NEW >
    inlinesymbols/.style={%
        decoration={%
            markings,%
            mark =%
                between positions 0 and 1 step 20mm % adjust step size here
                with {% < Begin NEW >
                     {\foreachitem\x\in\mylist{%
                     \def\mypicname{symbols\xcnt}%
                     \pgfmathsetmacro{\myangle}{360*rnd}%
                      \pic[rotate=\myangle] {\mypicname};}%
                      }%
                      % < End NEW >
                    }%
        },%
        postaction={decorate}%
    },%
}%

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture} 
\path[inlinesymbols] (0,0) -- (2,0);%
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

But I got an error :

Incomplete \iffalse; all text was ignored after line 32.

Also the space between two symbols print is not controlled.

Any idea to fix the error and control space between symbols print?

M(Non)WE inspirational sources:

(1) Tikz inline decoration: pschulz's answer
(2) Pic with rotate angle: Christoph Frings

Best Answer

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it's a simple solution.

The call is \symlist[<options>]{a,b,+,9,3}

<options> can be any attribute(s) recognized by tikz nodes. Spacing is controlled globally by setting \hsp (unit = cm).

Here is the code:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}

\newcommand{\hsp}{.5}

\newcommand{\symlist}[2][]{\begin{tikzpicture}[baseline]
\foreach \s[count=\n] in {#2}{\node[anchor=base, inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, #1] at (\hsp*\n,0){\s};
}\end{tikzpicture}}

\begin{document}

Here is a symbol list \symlist{a,b,+,9,3} inline.

Here is a symbol list \symlist[red, rotate=30]{a,b,+,9,3} inline.

Here is a symbol list \symlist[blue, xscale=-.7]{a,b,+,9,3} inline.

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Rotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decoration

The source of the difficulty is that ellipses are constructed in a particular way in TikZ. They are paths that start from the x-axis and proceed counter-clockwise around their centre. The vast majority of the time, the exact parametrisation doesn't matter. You appear to have found the one situation where it does!

In the actual question, you only want to be able to mirror the ellipse, and so draw it starting from the negative x-axis (the title of the question suggests a more flexible approach). That's actually not too hard since we can exploit the symmetry of the ellipse. The key is to provide it with a negative x-radius, since then it will start from the negative x-axis (and proceed clockwise, but we could correct for that by negating the y-radius as well). To do this, we interrupt the call from the node shape to the drawing command and flip the sign of the x-radius. The simplest way to do this is to redefine the \pgfpathellipse macro to do the negation and then call the original macro. The following code does this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations,shapes,decorations.markings}
\makeatletter
\let\origpgfpathellipse=\pgfpathellipse
\def\revpgfpathellipse#1#2#3{%
  #2%
  \pgf@xa=-\pgf@x
  \origpgfpathellipse{#1}{\pgfqpoint{\pgf@xa}{0pt}}{#3}}
\makeatother

\tikzset{
  reversed ellipse/.style={
    ellipse,
    reverse the ellipse%
  },
  reverse the ellipse/.code={
    \let\pgfpathellipse=\revpgfpathellipse
  }
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,0) {hello world};

\node[reversed ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,-2) {hello world};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Here's the result:

rotated ellipse

(the arrow got clipped, but you can see where it lies)

[Tex/LaTex] Numerical conditional within tikz keys

I am definitely unfamiliar with both beamer and tikz (do not quite get what the \only are supposed to do) but perhaps this could go in the direction you want:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{chains}
\newcounter{count}

% helper macro:
\long\def\GobToSemiColon #1;{}

\newcommand\myPicture{
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{scope}[start chain = going below]
  \ifnum\value{count}<1 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>3 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only when counter is between
    1 and 3};

  \ifnum\value{count}>-1 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only when counter is
    negative}; 

  \ifnum\value{count}<100 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>200 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi  
  \node[draw, rectangle, on chain] {display only if counter is between
    100 and 200};

  \ifnum\value{count}<3 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \ifnum\value{count}>20 \expandafter\GobToSemiColon\fi
  \node[draw, circle, on chain] {only when counter is in the range 3 to 20};
  \end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\only{\setcounter{count}{-3}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{105}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{39}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{2}\myPicture}
\only{\setcounter{count}{5}\myPicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

beamer