Arbitrary vertical space can be added using the vspace
command.
vspace
number [attributes];vspace:
label [attributes];
In the first form the vertical space is specified as a number in points.
In the secod form, the height of the given label will be used. This command
also has a specific attribute, called compressable
, which specifies
if the space should be ignored if compress is on. It defaults to no
.
Horizontal spacing between the entities can be controlled either via the
pos
and relative
entity attributes or can be made fully automatic
by specifying hscale=auto;
, see Entity Positioning and
Chart Options.
The hspace
command is useful in the latter case to force a certain
horizontal distance between two (not necessarily neighbouring) entity. The
space can be larger than the one specified with hspace
if the layout
requires so, but never smaller.
hspace
entity-entity number [attributes];hspace
entity-entity: label [attributes];hspace left comment
number [attributes];hspace right comment
number [attributes];
The syntax is similar to that of the vspace
command, both a number or
a label can be used to specify the horizontal distance. Before the distance,
the two entities need to be specified. Any one can be omitted, in this case the
distance is proscribed between the edge of the chart and the entity60. Two special versions of the hspace
command exist to specify
the spacing for the comments on the right and left sides.
The hspace
command can be specified anywhere in the file with the same
effect.
![]() | ![]() |
Note
that the edge will not be the physical edge, merely the invisible line from which
arrows connect to when only one entity is specified, such as a->;
or
->a;
.