How to overlap two SVG vectors without using inline SVG?

Question

I have two SVG vectors that I have overlapped by using CSS. See here. The shapes are as follows:

  <svg id="path1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px"   >
    <path
       id="path120"
       d="m273 82c-8.5 0.3-15 0.7-14.5 0.9 0.6 0.2 1.8 0.2 2.9 0.1 1.2-0.1 1.6 0.2 1 1.1-0.5 0.9-0.2 1 0.9 0.6 0.9-0.3 2.7-0.2 3.9 0.3 2.1 0.8 2.2 0.9 0.3 1.1-1.1 0.1-2.6 0.1-3.2 0-1.8-0.3-1.6 1.4 0.4 3 1.1 1 1.4 1 0.9 0.1-0.5-0.8 0.1-1.2 1.8-1.2 1.6 0 2.6-0.6 2.6-1.4 0-1 1.2-1.3 4.7-1 5.6 0.4 8.1-0.9 3.3-1.7-2.6-0.5-1.8-0.6 3-0.7 3.6 0 7 0.4 7.7 0.9 0.6 0.6 1.4 0.6 1.7 0.1s2.5-0.7 4.9-0.6c3.2 0.2 4.4-0.1 4.4-1.2 0-0.8-0.7-1.4-1.4-1.4-0.9 0-1.1 0.5-0.7 1.2 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.9-0.9-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-1.7-0.1 0 1-0.4 1-1.6-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-2.5 0.2-0.6 0.9-1.2 1-1.6 0.4-0.5-0.6-6.5-0.8-16.3-0.5zm-2.3 1.6c-0.3 0.3-1.2 0.4-1.9 0.1-0.8-0.3-0.5-0.6 0.6-0.6 1.1-0.1 1.7 0.2 1.3 0.5z" />

   </svg>

  <svg id="path2" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px" >
    <path
       id="path126"
       d="m230 83.1c-4.7 0.3-8 0.6-7.5 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.7-0.8 1.3-0.9 0.6-2.6 0.8-3.6 0.4-1.1-0.3-2.2-0.2-2.5 0.4-0.6 0.9-10.2 2.7-12.1 2.2s-20.6 0.8-21.4 1.5c-0.2 0.1 8 0.3 18.1 0.3s19.2 0.3 20.1 0.7c1 0.3 1.7 0.1 1.7-0.5s1.5-1.1 3.3-1.2c1.7 0 4.1-0.5 5.2-1 1.5-0.7 1.2-0.8-1.5-0.4-7.1 1.1-15.6 1.5-13 0.6 1.4-0.5 3.7-0.9 5.3-1 1.5-0.1 2.7-0.7 2.7-1.4 0-0.9 2.5-1.2 8.9-1.2 4.9 0 9.3 0.3 9.7 0.7 0.4 0.5-0.4 0.8-1.9 0.8-1.4 0-2.8 0.4-3.1 0.8-0.9 1.5 5.3 0 6.6-1.6 1-1.2 1-1.4 0.1-0.8-0.7 0.4-1.3 0.2-1.3-0.3 0-1.3 1.7-1.4 2.4-0.2 0.4 0.5 1.4 0.8 2.4 0.6 0.9-0.2 2.7-0.4 4-0.4 1.2-0.1 2.2-0.5 2.2-1 0-1-9.9-1-24 0z" />

   </svg>

If I change the CSS by removing the position:absolute (check the following), then they become two separate shapes. They don't overlap (stay adjacent in this case) anymore.

* {
    /* position: absolute; */
}
    #path1{
    margin: 10px;
    padding: 50px;
    border: 1px solid;
}

#path2{
    margin: 10px;
    padding: 50px;
    border: 1px solid red;
}

In this question: How to overlap two SVG images? , it says CSS is one solution or I could use them both inside a single SVG tag (inline SVG).

1. I can't use CSS; because I need to place the shapes in another HTML page. There if I keep position: absolute, it creates all sorts of mess as you can imagine.
2. I can't use inline SVG; because I am trying to animate the shapes using Vivus. This JS library requires both shapes to be inside a separate SVG tag. So I need to keep the shapes in two different SVG tags to make them animate separately.

Is there any other genius hack to this problem? (Without CSS or inline SVG)

Answer 1

All you need to do is restrict the application of the position: absolute by restricting that behaviour to one page and not the other.

For example in the snippet below, the SVGs in <div class="draw"> are overlapped, but the ones in <div class="draw2"> are not.

.draw {
    height: 250px;
}
.draw svg {
	position: absolute;
}

.path1{
	margin: 10px;
	padding: 50px;
	border: 1px solid;
}
.path2{
	margin: 10px;
	padding: 50px;
	border: 1px solid red;
}

.draw2 .path1,
.draw2 .path2 {
	border: 1px solid green;
}

<div class="draw">
  <svg class="path1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px"   >
    <path
       id="path120"
       d="m273 82c-8.5 0.3-15 0.7-14.5 0.9 0.6 0.2 1.8 0.2 2.9 0.1 1.2-0.1 1.6 0.2 1 1.1-0.5 0.9-0.2 1 0.9 0.6 0.9-0.3 2.7-0.2 3.9 0.3 2.1 0.8 2.2 0.9 0.3 1.1-1.1 0.1-2.6 0.1-3.2 0-1.8-0.3-1.6 1.4 0.4 3 1.1 1 1.4 1 0.9 0.1-0.5-0.8 0.1-1.2 1.8-1.2 1.6 0 2.6-0.6 2.6-1.4 0-1 1.2-1.3 4.7-1 5.6 0.4 8.1-0.9 3.3-1.7-2.6-0.5-1.8-0.6 3-0.7 3.6 0 7 0.4 7.7 0.9 0.6 0.6 1.4 0.6 1.7 0.1s2.5-0.7 4.9-0.6c3.2 0.2 4.4-0.1 4.4-1.2 0-0.8-0.7-1.4-1.4-1.4-0.9 0-1.1 0.5-0.7 1.2 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.9-0.9-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-1.7-0.1 0 1-0.4 1-1.6-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-2.5 0.2-0.6 0.9-1.2 1-1.6 0.4-0.5-0.6-6.5-0.8-16.3-0.5zm-2.3 1.6c-0.3 0.3-1.2 0.4-1.9 0.1-0.8-0.3-0.5-0.6 0.6-0.6 1.1-0.1 1.7 0.2 1.3 0.5z" />

   </svg>

  <svg class="path2" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px" >
    <path
       id="path126"
       d="m230 83.1c-4.7 0.3-8 0.6-7.5 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.7-0.8 1.3-0.9 0.6-2.6 0.8-3.6 0.4-1.1-0.3-2.2-0.2-2.5 0.4-0.6 0.9-10.2 2.7-12.1 2.2s-20.6 0.8-21.4 1.5c-0.2 0.1 8 0.3 18.1 0.3s19.2 0.3 20.1 0.7c1 0.3 1.7 0.1 1.7-0.5s1.5-1.1 3.3-1.2c1.7 0 4.1-0.5 5.2-1 1.5-0.7 1.2-0.8-1.5-0.4-7.1 1.1-15.6 1.5-13 0.6 1.4-0.5 3.7-0.9 5.3-1 1.5-0.1 2.7-0.7 2.7-1.4 0-0.9 2.5-1.2 8.9-1.2 4.9 0 9.3 0.3 9.7 0.7 0.4 0.5-0.4 0.8-1.9 0.8-1.4 0-2.8 0.4-3.1 0.8-0.9 1.5 5.3 0 6.6-1.6 1-1.2 1-1.4 0.1-0.8-0.7 0.4-1.3 0.2-1.3-0.3 0-1.3 1.7-1.4 2.4-0.2 0.4 0.5 1.4 0.8 2.4 0.6 0.9-0.2 2.7-0.4 4-0.4 1.2-0.1 2.2-0.5 2.2-1 0-1-9.9-1-24 0z" />

   </svg>

</div>

<div class="draw2">
  <svg class="path1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px"   >
    <path
       id="path120"
       d="m273 82c-8.5 0.3-15 0.7-14.5 0.9 0.6 0.2 1.8 0.2 2.9 0.1 1.2-0.1 1.6 0.2 1 1.1-0.5 0.9-0.2 1 0.9 0.6 0.9-0.3 2.7-0.2 3.9 0.3 2.1 0.8 2.2 0.9 0.3 1.1-1.1 0.1-2.6 0.1-3.2 0-1.8-0.3-1.6 1.4 0.4 3 1.1 1 1.4 1 0.9 0.1-0.5-0.8 0.1-1.2 1.8-1.2 1.6 0 2.6-0.6 2.6-1.4 0-1 1.2-1.3 4.7-1 5.6 0.4 8.1-0.9 3.3-1.7-2.6-0.5-1.8-0.6 3-0.7 3.6 0 7 0.4 7.7 0.9 0.6 0.6 1.4 0.6 1.7 0.1s2.5-0.7 4.9-0.6c3.2 0.2 4.4-0.1 4.4-1.2 0-0.8-0.7-1.4-1.4-1.4-0.9 0-1.1 0.5-0.7 1.2 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.9-0.9-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-1.7-0.1 0 1-0.4 1-1.6-0.1-1.3-1-1.7-1-2.5 0.2-0.6 0.9-1.2 1-1.6 0.4-0.5-0.6-6.5-0.8-16.3-0.5zm-2.3 1.6c-0.3 0.3-1.2 0.4-1.9 0.1-0.8-0.3-0.5-0.6 0.6-0.6 1.1-0.1 1.7 0.2 1.3 0.5z" />

   </svg>

  <svg class="path2" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400px" height="120px" >
    <path
       id="path126"
       d="m230 83.1c-4.7 0.3-8 0.6-7.5 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.7-0.8 1.3-0.9 0.6-2.6 0.8-3.6 0.4-1.1-0.3-2.2-0.2-2.5 0.4-0.6 0.9-10.2 2.7-12.1 2.2s-20.6 0.8-21.4 1.5c-0.2 0.1 8 0.3 18.1 0.3s19.2 0.3 20.1 0.7c1 0.3 1.7 0.1 1.7-0.5s1.5-1.1 3.3-1.2c1.7 0 4.1-0.5 5.2-1 1.5-0.7 1.2-0.8-1.5-0.4-7.1 1.1-15.6 1.5-13 0.6 1.4-0.5 3.7-0.9 5.3-1 1.5-0.1 2.7-0.7 2.7-1.4 0-0.9 2.5-1.2 8.9-1.2 4.9 0 9.3 0.3 9.7 0.7 0.4 0.5-0.4 0.8-1.9 0.8-1.4 0-2.8 0.4-3.1 0.8-0.9 1.5 5.3 0 6.6-1.6 1-1.2 1-1.4 0.1-0.8-0.7 0.4-1.3 0.2-1.3-0.3 0-1.3 1.7-1.4 2.4-0.2 0.4 0.5 1.4 0.8 2.4 0.6 0.9-0.2 2.7-0.4 4-0.4 1.2-0.1 2.2-0.5 2.2-1 0-1-9.9-1-24 0z" />

   </svg>

 </div>