1GNUPLOT(1) General Commands Manual GNUPLOT(1)
2
6 gnuplot - an interactive plotting program
7
9 gnuplot [X11 options] [options] [file ...]
10
12 Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function plotting program.
13 If file names are given on the command line, gnuplot loads each file
15 with the load command, in the order specified, and exits after the last
16 file is processed. If no files are given, gnuplot prompts for interac‐
17 tive commands.
18 Here are some of its features:
20 Plots any number of functions, built up of C operators, C library func‐
22 tions, and some things C doesn't have like **, sgn(), etc.
23 User-defined constants and functions.
25 All computations performed in the complex domain. Just the real part
27 is plotted by default, but functions like imag() and abs() and arg()
28 are available to override this.
29 Also support for plotting data files, to compare actual data to theo‐
31 retical curves.
32 Nonlinear least-squares fitting.
34 2D plots with mouse-controlled zooming.
36 3D plots with mouse-controlled point of view.
38 User-defined X and Y ranges (optional auto-ranging), smart axes scal‐
40 ing, smart tic marks.
41 Labelling of X and Y axes.
43 Shell escapes and command line substitution.
45 Load and save capability.
47 Support for many output devices and file formats.
49 Output redirection.
51
53 -p, --persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program
54 exits.
55 -e "command list" executes the requested commands before loading the
57 next input file.
58 -h, --help print summary of usage
60 -V show current version
62
64 Gnuplot provides the x11 terminal type for use with X servers. This
65 terminal type is set automatically at startup if the DISPLAY environ‐
66 ment variable is set, if the TERM environment variable is set to xterm,
67 or if the -display command line option is used. For terminal type x11,
68 gnuplot accepts the standard X Toolkit options and resources such as
69 geometry, font, and background. See the X(1) man page for a description
70 of the options. In addition to the X Toolkit options:
71 -clear requests that the window be cleared momentarily before a new
73 plot is displayed.
74 -gray requests grayscale rendering on grayscale or color displays.
76 (Grayscale displays receive monochrome rendering by default.)
77 -mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays.
79 -raise raises the plot window after each plot.
81 -noraise does not raise the plot window after each plot.
83 -tvtwm requests that geometry specifications for position of the window
85 be made relative to the currently displayed portion of the virtual
86 root.
87 These options may also be controlled with resources in your .Xdefaults
89 file. For example: gnuplot*gray: on .
90 Gnuplot provides a command line option (-pointsize v) and a resource
92 (gnuplot*pointsize: v) to control the size of points plotted with the
93 "points" plotting style. The value v is a real number (greater than 0
94 and less than or equal to ten) used as a scaling factor for point
95 sizes. For example, -pointsize 2 uses points twice the default size,
96 and -pointsize 0.5 uses points half the normal size.
97 For monochrome displays, gnuplot does not honor foreground or back‐
99 ground colors. The default is black-on-white. -rv or gnuplot*reverseV‐
100 ideo: on requests white-on-black.
101 For color displays gnuplot honors the following resources (shown here
103 with default values). The values may be color names in the X11 rgb.txt
104 file on your system, hexadecimal RGB color specifications (see X11 doc‐
105 umentation), or a color name followed by a comma and an intensity value
106 from 0 to 1. For example, blue,.5 means a half intensity blue.
107 gnuplot*background: white
109 gnuplot*textColor: black
110 gnuplot*borderColor: black
111 gnuplot*axisColor: black
112 gnuplot*line1Color: red
113 gnuplot*line2Color: green
114 gnuplot*line3Color: blue
115 gnuplot*line4Color: magenta
116 gnuplot*line5Color: cyan
117 gnuplot*line6Color: sienna
118 gnuplot*line7Color: orange
119 gnuplot*line8Color: coral
120 When -gray is selected, gnuplot honors the following resources for
122 grayscale or color displays (shown here with default values). Note that
123 the default background is black.
124 gnuplot*background: black
126 gnuplot*textGray: white
127 gnuplot*borderGray: gray50
128 gnuplot*axisGray: gray50
129 gnuplot*line1Gray: gray100
130 gnuplot*line2Gray: gray60
131 gnuplot*line3Gray: gray80
132 gnuplot*line4Gray: gray40
133 gnuplot*line5Gray: gray90
134 gnuplot*line6Gray: gray50
135 gnuplot*line7Gray: gray70
136 gnuplot*line8Gray: gray30
137 Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the width in pixels
139 of plot lines (shown here with default values.) 0 or 1 means a minimal
140 width line of 1 pixel width. A value of 2 or 3 may improve the appear‐
141 ance of some plots.
142 gnuplot*borderWidth: 2
144 gnuplot*axisWidth: 0
145 gnuplot*line1Width: 0
146 gnuplot*line2Width: 0
147 gnuplot*line3Width: 0
148 gnuplot*line4Width: 0
149 gnuplot*line5Width: 0
150 gnuplot*line6Width: 0
151 gnuplot*line7Width: 0
152 gnuplot*line8Width: 0
153 Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the dash style used
155 for plotting lines. 0 means a solid line. A 2 digit number jk (j and k
156 are >= 1 and <= 9) means a dashed line with a repeated pattern of j
157 pixels on followed by k pixels off. For example, '16' is a "dotted"
158 line with 1 pixel on followed by 6 pixels off. More elaborate on/off
159 patterns can be specified with a 4 digit value. For example, '4441' is
160 4 on, 4 off, 4 on, 1 off. The default values shown below are for mono‐
161 chrome displays or monochrome rendering on color or grayscale displays.
162 For color displays, the defaults for all are 0 (solid line) except for
163 axisDashes which defaults to a '16' dotted line.
164 gnuplot*borderDashes: 0
166 gnuplot*axisDashes: 16
167 gnuplot*line1Dashes: 0
168 gnuplot*line2Dashes: 42
169 gnuplot*line3Dashes: 13
170 gnuplot*line4Dashes: 44
171 gnuplot*line5Dashes: 15
172 gnuplot*line6Dashes: 4441
173 gnuplot*line7Dashes: 42
174 gnuplot*line8Dashes: 13
175 The size or aspect ratio of a plot may be changed by resizing the gnu‐
177 plot window.
178
180 A number of shell environment variables are understood by gnuplot.
181 None of these are required.
182 GNUTERM
184 The name of the terminal type to be used. This overrides any
185 terminal type sensed by gnuplot on start-up, but is itself over‐
186 ridden by the start-up") and, of course, by later explicit
187 changes.
188 GNUHELP
190 The pathname of the HELP file (gnuplot.gih).
191 HOME The name of a directory to search for a .gnuplot file if none is
193 found in the current directory.
194 PAGER An output filter for help messages.
196 SHELL The program used for the "shell" command.
198 FIT_SCRIPT
200 Specifies a gnuplot command to be executed when a fit is inter‐
201 rupted---see "help fit".
202 FIT_LOG
204 The name of the logfile maintained by fit.
205 GNUPLOT_LIB
207 Additional search directories for data and command files. The
208 variable may contain a single directory name, or a list of
209 directories separated by ':'. The contents of GNUPLOT_LIB are
210 appended to the "loadpath" variable, but not saved with the
211 "save" and "save set" commands.
212 GDFONTPATH
214 Several gnuplot terminal drivers access TrueType fonts via the
215 gd library. This variable gives the font search path for these
216 drivers.
217 GNUPLOT_DEFAULT_GDFONT
219 The default font for the terminal drivers that access TrueType
220 fonts via the gd library.
221 GNUPLOT_FONTPATH
223 The font search path used by the postscript terminal. The format
224 is the same as for GNUPLOT_LIB. The contents of GNUPLOT_FONTPATH
225 are appended to the "fontpath" variable, but not saved with the
226 "save" and "save set" commands.
227 GNUPLOT_PS_DIR
229 Used by the postscript driver to locate external prologue files.
230 Depending on the build process, gnuplot contains either a
231 builtin copy of those files or simply a default hardcoded path.
232 Use this variable to test the postscript terminal with custom
233 prologue files. See "help postscript prologue".
234
236 .gnuplot
237 Gnuplot looks for this initialization file, first in the current
238 directory, then in the HOME directory. It may contain any legal
239 gnuplot commands, but typically they are limited to setting the
240 terminal and defining frequently-used functions or variables.
241 fit.log
243 The default name of the logfile maintained by fit.
244
246 Thomas Williams, Pixar Corporation,
247 (gnuplot-info@lists.sourceforge.net)
248 and Colin Kelley.
249 Additions for labelling by Russell Lang, Monash University, Australia.
251 (rjl@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au)
252 Further additions by David Kotz, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA
253 (formerly of Duke University, North Carolina, USA).
254 (David.Kotz@Dartmouth.edu)
255
257 See the help bugs command in gnuplot.
258
260 See the printed manual or the on-line help for details on specific com‐
261 mands.
262 X(1).
2634th Berkeley Distribution 7 October 2008 GNUPLOT(1)