start

Parameter used to determine the initial layout of nodes

type: startType, default: ""

If unset, the nodes are randomly placed in a unit square with the same seed is always used for the random number generator, so the initial placement is repeatable.

The following examples have the same graph, but render differently due to their start values:

Set random seed to 1

graph {
    layout="fdp"
    start=1
    A -- B; B -- C; C -- D; D -- A
}

Edit in Playground

Set random seed to 2, graph looks different

graph {
    layout="fdp"
    start=2
    A -- B; B -- C; C -- D; D -- A
}

Edit in Playground

Valid on:

Graphs

Note: neato, fdp, sfdp only.

Search the Graphviz codebase for "start"

Last modified November 1, 2023: docs: modify start value from 1 to 2 (5f45246)