graphviz drawing graph vertically

Question

I am using graphviz to draw directed graphs . Now thing is that although I am able to generate graph correctly the graph is designed horizontally which is not according to my requirements . So, how can I draw directed graphs vertically Please help me with this

What is your [rankdir](http://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/attrs.html#d:rankdir) setting? — Anders Lindahl, Aug 06 '13 at 11:05
@Anders Lindahl I haven't dfined rankdir properties . please suggest me what modification I need to perform — user2060673, Aug 06 '13 at 11:17
Show an example of your graph description, and the command you use to render it. — Anders Lindahl, Aug 06 '13 at 11:20
digraph G { graph [ bgcolor=lightgray, resolution=128, fontname=Arial, fontcolor=blue, fontsize=10 ]; node [ fontname=Arial, fontcolor=blue, fontsize=10]; edge [ fontname=Helvetica, fontcolor=red, fontsize=10 ]; "http://arunachaltourism.com/" -> "http://www.webcomindia.biz/profile.php"; "http://arunachaltourism.com/#" -> "http://arunachaltourism.com/"; "http://arunachaltourism.com/aalo.php" -> "http://arunachaltourism.com/";} — user2060673, Aug 06 '13 at 11:31

Simon · Answer 1 · 2020-12-03T18:44:59.873

27

Given the following script, which I've extracted from the comments to the question and edited to make it run successfully by removing some extraneous semicolons:

digraph G { 
    graph [ bgcolor=lightgray, resolution=128, fontname=Arial, fontcolor=blue, fontsize=10 ]; 
    node [ fontname=Arial, fontcolor=blue, fontsize=10]; 
    edge [ fontname=Helvetica, fontcolor=red, fontsize=10 ]; 
    "arunachaltourism.com/" -> "webcomindia.biz/profile.php"; 
    "arunachaltourism.com/#" -> "arunachaltourism.com/";
    "arunachaltourism.com/aalo.php" -> "arunachaltourism.com/";
}

I called the script x.dot. Now, running:

dot x.dot -Tjpg -o x.jpg

... produces:

enter image description here

... because the default is rankdir=TB. Inserting:

rankdir=LR

... as the second line of the script and running the script through dot again gives:

enter image description here

Thus, it isn't clear to me why the graph might have been drawn horizontally the first time, but you will be able to see how using rankdir can make the graph come out either horizontally or vertically.

edited Dec 03 '20 at 18:44

answered Aug 15 '13 at 22:02

Simon

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This is exactly what i was looking for – Kashif Imran Jul 28 '15 at 14:13
Perfect answer; changing the rank direction helped. – Aug 08 '18 at 15:10
1

default is TB, not BT – bsmk Dec 03 '20 at 06:47
Thanks @bsmk. Well spotted! I've edited my answer to correct it. – Simon Dec 03 '20 at 18:45
Doesn't work if the graph is more than about 6 or 7 nodes deep. After that, it only spreads horizontally, never vertically. (with dot layout engine) – Linas Mar 08 '23 at 23:37

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 17 '17 at 05:54

23

(old question, but why not!)

You can as well run:

dot -Grankdir=LR -Tpng myfile.dot -ogeneratedpng.png

answered Jan 17 '17 at 05:54

purnank

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score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '18 at 13:44

You can use rankdir as a property in the dot file:

digraph G {
     rankdir=LR;  //left to right
     //B bottom  T top  L left R right
      start->a1;
      a1 -> b3;
      b2 -> a3;
      a3 -> a0;
      a3 -> end;
      b3 -> end;
    }

The script generate the following graph from left to right:

You can try the script online

graphviz drawing graph vertically

3 Answers3