gnuplot - an interactive plotting program
gnuplot [X11 options] [options] [file ...]
Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function plotting program.
If file names are given on the command line, gnuplot loads each file with the
load command, in the order specified, and exits after the last file is
processed. If no files are given,
gnuplot prompts for interactive
commands.
Here are some of its features:
Plots any number of functions, built up of C operators, C library functions, and
some things C doesn't have like **, sgn(), etc.
User-defined constants and functions.
All computations performed in the complex domain. Just the real part is plotted
by default, but functions like imag() and abs() and arg() are available to
override this.
Also support for plotting data files, to compare actual data to theoretical
curves.
Nonlinear least-squares fitting.
2D plots with mouse-controlled zooming.
3D plots with mouse-controlled point of view.
User-defined X and Y ranges (optional auto-ranging), smart axes scaling, smart
tic marks.
Labelling of X and Y axes.
Shell escapes and command line substitution.
Load and save capability.
Support for many output devices and file formats.
Output redirection.
-p, --persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program exits.
-e "command list" executes the requested commands before
loading the next input file.
-h, --help print summary of usage
-V show current version
Gnuplot provides the
x11 terminal type for use with X servers.
This terminal type is set automatically at startup if the
DISPLAY
environment variable is set, if the
TERM environment variable is set to
xterm, or if the
-display command line option is used. For
terminal type
x11,
gnuplot accepts the standard X Toolkit
options and resources such as geometry, font, and background. See the
X(1) man
page for a description of the options. In addition to the X Toolkit options:
-clear requests that the window be cleared momentarily before a new plot
is displayed.
-gray requests grayscale rendering on grayscale or color displays.
(Grayscale displays receive monochrome rendering by default.)
-mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays.
-raise raises the plot window after each plot.
-noraise does not raise the plot window after each plot.
-tvtwm requests that geometry specifications for position of the window
be made relative to the currently displayed portion of the virtual root.
These options may also be controlled with resources in your
.Xdefaults
file. For example:
gnuplot*gray: on .
Gnuplot provides a command line option (
-pointsize v) and a
resource (
gnuplot*pointsize: v) to control the size of points
plotted with the "points" plotting style. The value
v is a
real number (greater than 0 and less than or equal to ten) used as a scaling
factor for point sizes. For example,
-pointsize 2 uses points twice the
default size, and
-pointsize 0.5 uses points half the normal size.
For monochrome displays,
gnuplot does not honor foreground or background
colors. The default is black-on-white.
-rv or
gnuplot*reverseVideo:
on requests white-on-black.
For color displays
gnuplot honors the following resources (shown here
with default values). The values may be color names in the X11
rgb.txt
file on your system, hexadecimal RGB color specifications (see X11
documentation), or a color name followed by a comma and an
intensity
value from 0 to 1. For example,
blue,.5 means a half intensity blue.
gnuplot*background: white
gnuplot*textColor: black
gnuplot*borderColor: black
gnuplot*axisColor: black
gnuplot*line1Color: red
gnuplot*line2Color: green
gnuplot*line3Color: blue
gnuplot*line4Color: magenta
gnuplot*line5Color: cyan
gnuplot*line6Color: sienna
gnuplot*line7Color: orange
gnuplot*line8Color: coral
When
-gray is selected,
gnuplot honors the following resources for
grayscale or color displays (shown here with default values). Note that the
default background is black.
gnuplot*background: black
gnuplot*textGray: white
gnuplot*borderGray: gray50
gnuplot*axisGray: gray50
gnuplot*line1Gray: gray100
gnuplot*line2Gray: gray60
gnuplot*line3Gray: gray80
gnuplot*line4Gray: gray40
gnuplot*line5Gray: gray90
gnuplot*line6Gray: gray50
gnuplot*line7Gray: gray70
gnuplot*line8Gray: gray30
Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the width in pixels of
plot lines (shown here with default values.) 0 or 1 means a minimal width line
of 1 pixel width. A value of 2 or 3 may improve the appearance of some plots.
gnuplot*borderWidth: 2
gnuplot*axisWidth: 0
gnuplot*line1Width: 0
gnuplot*line2Width: 0
gnuplot*line3Width: 0
gnuplot*line4Width: 0
gnuplot*line5Width: 0
gnuplot*line6Width: 0
gnuplot*line7Width: 0
gnuplot*line8Width: 0
Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the dash style used
for plotting lines. 0 means a solid line. A 2 digit number
jk (
j and
k are >= 1 and <= 9) means a dashed line with a
repeated pattern of
j pixels on followed by
k pixels off. For
example, '16' is a "dotted" line with 1 pixel on followed by 6
pixels off. More elaborate on/off patterns can be specified with a 4 digit
value. For example, '4441' is 4 on, 4 off, 4 on, 1 off. The default values
shown below are for monochrome displays or monochrome rendering on color or
grayscale displays. For color displays, the defaults for all are 0 (solid
line) except for
axisDashes which defaults to a '16' dotted line.
gnuplot*borderDashes: 0
gnuplot*axisDashes: 16
gnuplot*line1Dashes: 0
gnuplot*line2Dashes: 42
gnuplot*line3Dashes: 13
gnuplot*line4Dashes: 44
gnuplot*line5Dashes: 15
gnuplot*line6Dashes: 4441
gnuplot*line7Dashes: 42
gnuplot*line8Dashes: 13
The size or aspect ratio of a plot may be changed by resizing the
gnuplot
window.
A number of shell environment variables are understood by gnuplot. None of these
are required.
- GNUTERM
- The name of the terminal type to be used. This overrides
any terminal type sensed by gnuplot on start-up, but is itself overridden
by the .gnuplot (or equivalent) start-up file (see FILES and
"help start-up") and, of course, by later explicit changes.
- GNUHELP
- The pathname of the HELP file (gnuplot.gih).
- HOME
- The name of a directory to search for a .gnuplot file if
none is found in the current directory.
- PAGER
- An output filter for help messages.
- SHELL
- The program used for the "shell" command.
- FIT_SCRIPT
- Specifies a gnuplot command to be executed when a fit is
interrupted---see "help fit".
- FIT_LOG
- The name of the logfile maintained by fit.
- GNUPLOT_LIB
- Additional search directories for data and command files.
The variable may contain a single directory name, or a list of directories
separated by ':'. The contents of GNUPLOT_LIB are appended to the
"loadpath" variable, but not saved with the "save" and
"save set" commands.
- GDFONTPATH
- Several gnuplot terminal drivers access TrueType fonts via
the gd library. This variable gives the font search path for these
drivers.
- GNUPLOT_DEFAULT_GDFONT
- The default font for the terminal drivers that access
TrueType fonts via the gd library.
- GNUPLOT_FONTPATH
- The font search path used by the postscript terminal. The
format is the same as for GNUPLOT_LIB. The contents of GNUPLOT_FONTPATH
are appended to the "fontpath" variable, but not saved with the
"save" and "save set" commands.
- GNUPLOT_PS_DIR
- Used by the postscript driver to locate external prologue
files. Depending on the build process, gnuplot contains either a builtin
copy of those files or simply a default hardcoded path. Use this variable
to test the postscript terminal with custom prologue files. See "help
postscript prologue".
- .gnuplot
- Gnuplot looks for this initialization file, first in the
current directory, then in the HOME directory. It may contain any legal
gnuplot commands, but typically they are limited to setting the terminal
and defining frequently-used functions or variables.
- fit.log
- The default name of the logfile maintained by fit.
Thomas Williams, Pixar Corporation,
(
[email protected])
and Colin Kelley.
Additions for labelling by Russell Lang, Monash University, Australia.
(
[email protected])
Further additions by David Kotz, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA (formerly
of Duke University, North Carolina, USA).
(
[email protected])
See the
help bugs command in gnuplot.
See the printed manual or the on-line help for details on specific commands.
X(1).