Kdtyjb

I want to create a macro in TikZ that allows me to draw a pentagon of pentagons where every node, arrow and triangle is labelled (the common/repeated parts will have the same labels). Here is nice example (in xypic) of what I'd like (just maybe upside down):

A friend of mine kindly helped me with the TikZ code for the pentagons:

documentclass[tikz]{standalone}

%

usepackage{tikz}

usetikzlibrary{calc}

tikzset{

between/.style args={#1 and #2}{

    at = ($(#1)!0.5!(#2)$)

},

betweenl/.style args={#1 and #2}{

    at = ($(#1)!0.35!(#2)$)

}

}

%

newcommand{drawPent}[2]{%

foreach r in {0,1,2,3,4}

node (r) at (162 + r * 72:#2) {footnotesize $r$};

draw[->] (0) -- node[left] {footnotesize $ab$} coordinate (ab) (1);

draw[->] (1) -- node[below] {footnotesize $bc$} coordinate (bc) (2);

draw[->] (2) -- node[right] {footnotesize $cd$} coordinate (cd) (3); 

draw[->] (3) -- node[above] {footnotesize $de$} coordinate (de) (4); 

draw[->] (0) -- node[above] {footnotesize $ae$} coordinate (ae) (4);

{ifcase #1     

    draw[->] (0) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ac$} coordinate (ac) (2);

    draw[->] (0) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ad$} coordinate (ad) (3);

    node[between=1 and ac] {footnotesize $abc$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 2] {footnotesize $acd$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 4] {footnotesize $ade$};

    or

    draw[->] (0) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ac$} coordinate (ac) (2);

    draw[->] (2) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ce$} coordinate (ce) (4);

    node[between=1 and ac] {footnotesize $abc$};

    node[betweenl=ae and 2] {footnotesize $ace$};

    node[between=ce and 3] {footnotesize $cde$};

    or

    draw[->] (0) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ac$} coordinate (ac) (3);

    draw[->] (1) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $bd$} coordinate (bd) (3);

    node[betweenl=ad and 1] {footnotesize $abd$};

    node[between=bd and 2] {footnotesize $bcd$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 4] {footnotesize $ade$};

    or

    draw[->] (1) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $bd$} coordinate (bd) (3);

    draw[->] (1) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $be$} coordinate (be) (4);

    node[between=0 and be] {footnotesize $abe$};

    node[betweenl=de and 1] {footnotesize $bde$};

    node[between=bd and 2] {footnotesize $bcd$};

    or

    draw[->] (1) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $be$} coordinate (be) (4);

    draw[->] (2) -- node[fill=white] {footnotesize $ce$} coordinate (ce) (4);

    node[between=0 and be] {footnotesize $abe$};

    node[betweenl=bc and 4] {footnotesize $bce$};

    node[between=ce and 3] {footnotesize $cde$};

    elsefi}

 }

%

begin{document}    

%       defa{a}defb{b}defc{c}defd{d}defe{e}

    defab{f}defbc{g}defcd{h}defde{i}defae{l}

    defac{m}defad{n}defbd{o}defbe{p}defce{q}

    defabc{r}defacd{s}defade{t}

    deface{u}defcde{v}

    defabd{w}defbcd{x}

    defabe{y}defbde{z}

    defbce{A}

%

    begin{tikzpicture}

        drawPent 0{1.5}

    end{tikzpicture}

end{document}

The command drawPent takes two parameters: the first is the 'kind' of pentagon (going from 0 to 4) and the second is the dimension of the pentagon. I formerly define all the labels, which are later gathered in the picture by the macro.
I am very much open to critics and advise for improving the code of the smaller pentagons.

There are two things I am not able to do:

• Label the nodes of the pentagons with the formerly defined a, b, c, d, e instead of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 without getting rid of the for cycle. This is a very minor aspect, but I am curious to learn how to deal efficiently with variables on TeX. (I tried something like r/i in {0/a, 1/b, 2c} etc but I was not able to make it work.)-


• Draw a big pentagon of small pentagons (aka a 4-simplex or 4-oriental). I imagine that having this first macro done, then using wisely scope it is possible to create a big pentagon in which each node is a smaller pentagon. Actually, the arrows between pentagons have to be triple arrows aka 3-arrows, but that is not a problem since I can use the macro tarrow of this answer.
  The macro might accept a parameter for the 'base length' of the big pentagon, but it is far from necessary.

You could just store the "little" pentagon in a pic, which can be placed at the corners of a larger polygon.

documentclass[tikz]{standalone}

%

usepackage{tikz}

usetikzlibrary{calc}



tikzset{

between/.style args={#1 and #2}{

    at = ($(#1)!0.5!(#2)$)

},

betweenl/.style args={#1 and #2}{

    at = ($(#1)!0.35!(#2)$)

}

}

%

tikzset{pics/.cd,

Pent/.style n args={4}{code={%

begin{scope}[font=footnotesize]

foreach XX [count=r starting from 0] in {#3}

node (r) at (162 + r * 72:#2) {$XX$};

draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,left] (ab) {$ab$}  (1);

draw[->] (1) -- node[midway,below] (bc) {$bc$} (2);

draw[->] (2) -- node[midway,right] (cd) {$cd$} (3); 

draw[->] (3) -- node[midway,above] (de) {$de$} (4); 

draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,above] (ea) {$ae$} (4);

ifcase#1     

    draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,fill=white,font=footnotesize] (ac) {$ac$}  (2);

    draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,fill=white,font=footnotesize] (ad) {$ad$}  (3);

    node[between=1 and ac] {$abc$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 2] {$acd$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 4] {$ade$};

or

    draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,fill=white] (ac) {$ac$} (2);

    draw[->] (2) -- node[midway,fill=white] (ce) {$ce$} (4);

    node[between=1 and ac] {$abc$};

    node[betweenl=ea and 2] {$ace$};

    node[between=ce and 3] {$cde$};

or

    draw[->] (0) -- node[midway,fill=white] (ad) {$ad$} (3);

    draw[->] (1) -- node[midway,fill=white] (bd) {$bd$}  (3);

    node[betweenl=ad and 1] {$abd$};

    node[between=bd and 2] {$bcd$};

    node[betweenl=ad and 4] {$ade$};

or

    draw[->] (1) -- node[midway,fill=white]  (bd) {$bd$} (3);

    draw[->] (1) -- node[midway,fill=white] (be) {$be$} (4);

    node[between=0 and be] {$abe$};

    node[betweenl=de and 1] {$bde$};

    node[between=bd and 2] {$bcd$};

or

    draw[->] (1) -- node[midway,fill=white] (be) {$be$} (4);

    draw[->] (2) -- node[midway,fill=white] (ce) {$ce$} (4);

    node[between=0 and be] {$abe$};

    node[betweenl=bc and 4] {$bce$};

    node[between=ce and 3] {$cde$};

fi

end{scope}

 }}}

%

begin{document}    

%       defa{a}defb{b}defc{c}defd{d}defe{e}

    defab{f}defbc{g}defcd{h}defde{i}defae{l}

    defac{m}defad{n}defbd{o}defbe{p}defce{q}

    defabc{r}defacd{s}defade{t}

    deface{u}defcde{v}

    defabd{w}defbcd{x}

    defabe{y}defbde{z}

    defbce{A}

%

    begin{tikzpicture}

    foreach X [count=RR starting from 0] in {0,...,4}

     {

     path (162+RR*72:4) pic (P-RR) {Pent={RR}{1.5}{a,b,c,d,e}{B-RR}};

     }

    draw[-latex] (P-1ea) -- (P-0bc);

    draw[-latex] (P-0de) -- (P-4ab);

    draw[-latex] (P-4cd) -- (P-3ea);

    draw[-latex] (P-3bc) -- (P-2de);

    draw[-latex] (P-2ab) -- (P-1cd);

    end{tikzpicture}

end{document}

Note that I slightly modified/simplified you code and believe to have fixed a small typo in the third ifcase.