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I have two adjacent paths in Inkscape with a tiny empty space between them. I'd like to combine them into a single continuous path such that each two adjacent nodes (in the below image) become one node, and the empty space gone.

For now I'm simply moving the nodes to the same point and combining the paths. But this feels like a hack and limits what I can do with the path (moving this particular node for example).

I found two questions asking about joining end points, but my question is about mid points, and the "Join selected nodes" button doesn't work with mid points:

I also found this question, which looked promising, but it's about Illustrator, not Inkscape:

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  • Hi imgx64, welcome to GDSE and thanks for your question. If you want to know more about the site, please see the help center or ping one of us in Graphic Design Chat once your reputation is sufficient (20). Keep contributing and enjoy the site!
    – Vincent
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 8:04

2 Answers 2

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You're so close with your question - you just need to turn your mid points into end points.

In my screenshot I've filled the parts so you can see the path more clearly.

Select one of the pieces and in node edit mode use the separate tool with tooltip "delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes".

Break the piece by deleting the section between two nodes

Repeat for the other piece and now you've got two sets of endpoints, top and bottom, that you can join.

Join\merge the end nodes

The newly created nodes are superfluous in your design so they can be deleted.

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  • I'd normally post keyboard shortcuts/menu routes but I can't figure what they are for node editing.
    – user19660
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 8:24
  • When I tried "delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes", it messed up the path (i.sstatic.net/tdkhN.png ). But it got fixed after I joined the nodes. Thanks.
    – imgx64
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 9:46
  • The imgur pic issue with the top right node is very likely a case where you've got two nodes really close together but not actually joined. Cutting the path elsewhere highlights this because the resulting area is vague and based on two bounding strokes. It fixes itself again when you rejoin but only because the gap is now less "geometrically vague" and the area can be defined. Personally I'd node select the top corner and merge what must be two nodes to prevent any weird issues in the future.
    – user19660
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 11:45
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for speed up the method of Matt Bracewell:

  • select two paths
  • combine (Ctrl+K) (you have 1 path)
  • edit node mode (F2)
  • border select the 4 node (close to white space)
  • "delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes" (Alt + Canc)
  • select a pair of nodes
  • "join selected node" (Shift + J)
  • or "join selected end nodes with new segment" (Alt + J)
  • repeat for oher pair
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  • Aha! The keyboard shortcuts :-) An excellent addition. I make "delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes" Alt+Backspace on my Xubuntu/Inkscape 0.48 machine.
    – user19660
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 14:24

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