9.13.1 Spacing ¶

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.