# Edge label placement

**URL:** <https://forum.graphviz.org/t/edge-label-placement/3338>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [May 5, 2026, 10:13am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/edge-label-placement/3338 "2026-05-05T10:13:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![steveroush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@steveroush](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/steveroush)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/edge-label-placement/3338/8 "2026-05-07T19:14:58Z")

</div>

Here is a (maybe) fix to make the edge “curvier”. But note that **dot** produces unsatisfactory results for many variations on this theme.

```auto
digraph test {
  label="Caption"
  concentrate=true

  {
    rank="same"
    B,C,D
  }

  A:n -> B[label="A\ndepends\non B"]
  C -> B[label="Unordered\nconstraint", dir="both", arrowhead="onormal", arrowtail="onormal", style="dashed"]
  A:nw -> C[color="red"]
  C:ne -> D:nw [color=red label=" "] // trying to make the visible version "curvier"
  C:n-> D:n [color="invis"]
  D -> A[label="Def. loop", color="red"]
  B -> D[label="Requirement", style="bold", color="forestgreen"]
}

```

Giving:

 ![forum3338B1](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/original/2X/2/29360315339e7091189d53252a40b737c9f05d6e.png)

Here are three forum entries about edges & edge labels. With luck, they should help you place your edges and labels more to your liking.

- [Fun with edges!](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/fun-with-edges/888)
- [A program to "fix" simple edges](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/a-program-to-fix-simple-edges/1792)
- [Fun with Edge Labels!](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/fun-with-edge-labels/1643)

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