[Tex/LaTex] How to draw a separator between the columns of a matrix.

matricestikz-pgf

Is there a simple way to tell TikZ that I want a vertical line to separate the columns of a matrix? I know how to draw them manually, I am looking for an automatic solution, maybe using styles or something.

Best Answer

You can use "matrix of nodes" and anchors:

\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (mat) [matrix of nodes]
 {
  1 & 2 & 3 \\
  1 & 2 & 3 \\
  1 & 2 & 3 \\
  1 & 2 & 3 \\
 };
% Matrix is called 'mat' first number is row, second numer is column
\draw[thick,red] (mat-1-1.north east) -- (mat-4-1.south east);
\end{tikzpicture}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to achieve double border line between some columns of tikz matrix

You can customise the distance between columns when you're writing the first row of your matrix. For example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix [matrix of nodes,row sep=-\pgflinewidth,nodes={rectangle,draw,minimum width=3em}]
{
0   &[-\pgflinewidth]   3 &[5mm]    6 \\
1   &                   1 &         3 \\
2   &                   2 &         9 \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

gets you this:

enter image description here

Note that I have used the answer from the question linked in this question as a template, but I've kept it simple to highlight the column separations.

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw horizontal and vertical lines for a TikZ matrix

There are a few things going awry with your code.

When you do matrix of nodes then each cell is surrounded by \node[options] (<name>) { ... };. It isn't allowed to nest nodes, so your \node ... in cell 5-2 is illegal. The ones in 5-3 and 5-4 are okay because TikZ takes a look to see if the cell starts with a TikZ command before enclosing it in a node. As the nodes are already there, if you want simply to give them new names then use the syntax for specifying extra options: |[options]| at the start of the cell.
Although you want to give them new names, I think that you also want to refer to them via the ae-m-n syntax. So you actually want to give them aliases. Thus use the alias=<name> key.
The line matrix of nodes/.style={execute at empty cell=\node {AAA};} is bizarre. It overwrites the matrix of nodes style, but you've already executed this. I presume that what you want is for AAA to appear in each blank cell. I don't know if there is a way to do this without hacking the code a little (ie without a \makeatletter) but a simple hack to adjust the code for empty cells solves this. I suspect that there are a couple of cells that you want to be genuinely empty. Putting {} as their contents makes them officially not empty (so doesn't invoke the empty cell code) whilst still being actually empty.

Here's a modification of your code taking the above into account:

\documentclass{article}
%\url{http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/134209/86}
\usepackage[margin=0.5in]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing}

\makeatletter
\newcommand\myemptycell[1]{%
  \iftikz@lib@matrix@empty\node[name=\tikzmatrixname-\the\pgfmatrixcurrentrow-\the\pgfmatrixcurrentcolumn] {#1};\fi}
\makeatother
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
    %%---------------------------------------
    dm/.style={decoration={brace,mirror},decorate},
    dd/.style={decoration={brace},decorate},
    %%---------------------------------------
    nlble/.style={inner sep=0pt,anchor=east},
    nlblw/.style={inner sep=0pt,anchor=west},
    %%---------------------------------------
  ]
  \matrix (ae) [matrix of nodes,
                column 1/.style={anchor=west},
                minimum width=2cm,
                column sep=2.5ex,
                row sep=2.5ex,
                nodes in empty cells,
                execute at empty cell=\myemptycell{AAA},
                ]
  {
   {}   & column A & column B & column C & g                 \\
  Row A &          &          &          &|[alias=cc]| a \\
  Row B &          &          &          &|[alias=ss]| \\
  Row C &          &          &          &|[alias=alt]| \\
  Row D &          &          &          &               {}    \\
  };
  \foreach \row in {1,2,3,4,5} {%
    \draw[blue,line width=0.4pt] ($(ae-\row-2.base west)-(0,2ex)$) -- ($(ae-\row-4.base east)-(0,2ex)$);
   }
%  \foreach \col in {1,2,3,4}{%
%    \draw[blue,line width=0.4pt] ($(ae-1-\col.base east)-(0,2ex)$) -- ($(ae-4-\col.base east)-(0,2ex)$);
%  }
  \draw[dm]  ($(ae-2-1.west)+(0,2.5ex)$) -- ($(ae-3-1.west)-(0,2.5ex)$) node [midway,anchor=east] (A) {};
  \draw[dm]  ($(ae-4-1.west)+(0,2.5ex)$) -- ($(ae-4-1.west)-(0,2.5ex)$) node [midway,anchor=east] (B) {};
  \draw[dd]  ($(cc.east)+(0,2.5ex)$)     -- ($(cc.east)+(0,-2.5ex)$)    node [midway,anchor=west] (C) {};
  \draw[dd]  ($(ss.east)+(0,2.5ex)$)     -- ($(alt.east)+(0,-2.5ex)$)   node [midway,anchor=west] (D) {};

  \node[nlble] at ($(A)+(-1ex,0)$) {\parbox{1.35in}{\footnotesize\centering Instructions for material to be put in Rows A and B.}};
  \node[nlble] at ($(B)+(-1ex,0)$) {\parbox{1.35in}{\footnotesize\centering Instructions for material to be put in Row C.}};
  \node[nlblw] at ($(C)+(1ex,0)$)  {\parbox{1.5in}{\footnotesize\centering Additional instructions for Row A.}};    
  \node[nlblw] at ($(D)+(1ex,0)$)  {\parbox{1.5in}{\footnotesize\centering Additional instructions for Rows B and C.}};    
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

With result:

Matrix with lines

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to achieve double border line between some columns of tikz matrix

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw horizontal and vertical lines for a TikZ matrix

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