[Tex/LaTex] No text=none in TikZ

colortikz-pgf

In TikZ, there are draw=none and fill=none options to turn off stroking and filling operations. However, there doesn't appear to be a corresponding text=none option. If I try \tikz \node[text=none] {X};, I get the error message "Package xcolor Error: Undefined color `none'." (The text=red option does work as expected.)

  • Is there indeed no text=none option?
  • What are alternatives? Is it reasonable to use text opacity=0, or is there something better?

I'm asking because I would like to create an "empty" node of the same size as a given image or text. By referencing the anchors of this "empty" node, I can then animate the image or text moving in to occupy the same space. The following is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish. It uses text opacity=0 based on @percusse's suggestion.

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{animate}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usetikzlibrary{calc}

\begin{document}

\begin{animateinline}[autoplay,loop]{10}
  \multiframe{11}{iframe=0+1}{
    \begin{tikzpicture}[every node/.style={draw}]
      \node[text opacity=0] (source) {Text};
      \node[text opacity=0] (target) at (2,2) {Text};

      \node at ($(source)!\iframe/10!(target)$) {Text};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  }
\end{animateinline}

\end{document}
  • Given this ultimate goal, is it preferable to use something like \node {\phantom{Text}};?

Best Answer

If you don't need the text then it shouldn't be there anyway. Either you enlarge the node with minimum width,height,inner sep etc. or you can use the text opacity key comfortably.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[text opacity=0,draw=red,fill=yellow!25] (a) {Text};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

If you also need some placeholder for a text, you can go slightly esoteric and get the width depth height info beforehand e.g. just for the width;

\begin{tikzpicture}
\pgfmathparse{width{"Text"}}
\edef\mywidth{\pgfmathresult}
\node[minimum width=\mywidth pt,draw=red,fill=yellow!25] (a) {};
\end{tikzpicture}
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