1GNUPLOT(1) General Commands Manual GNUPLOT(1)
2
6 gnuplot - an interactive plotting program
7
9 gnuplot [ X11 options ] [file ...]
10
12 Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function plotting program.
13 If files are given, gnuplot loads each file with the load command, in
15 the order specified. Gnuplot exits after the last file is processed.
16 Here are some of its features:
18 Plots any number of functions, built up of C operators, C library func‐
20 tions, and some things C doesn't have like **, sgn(), etc. Also sup‐
21 port for plotting data files, to compare actual data to theoretical
22 curves.
23 User-defined X and Y ranges (optional auto-ranging), smart axes scal‐
25 ing, smart tic marks.
26 Labelling of X and Y axes.
28 User-defined constants and functions.
30 Support for many output devices and file formats
32 Shell escapes and command line substitution.
34 Load and save capability.
36 Output redirection.
38 All computations performed in the complex domain. Just the real part
40 is plotted by default, but functions like imag() and abs() and arg()
41 are available to override this.
42
44 Gnuplot provides the x11 terminal type for use with X servers. This
45 terminal type is set automatically at startup if the DISPLAY environ‐
46 ment variable is set, if the TERM environment variable is set to xterm,
47 or if the -display command line option is used. For terminal type x11,
48 gnuplot accepts the standard X Toolkit options and resources such as
49 geometry, font, and background. See the X(1) man page for a description
50 of the options. In addition to the X Toolkit options:
51 -clear requests that the window be cleared momentarily before a new
53 plot is displayed.
54 -gray requests grayscale rendering on grayscale or color displays.
56 (Grayscale displays receive monochrome rendering by default.)
57 -mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays.
59 -persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program exits.
61 -raise raises the plot window after each plot.
63 -noraise does not raise the plot window after each plot.
65 -tvtwm requests that geometry specifications for position of the window
67 be made relative to the currently displayed portion of the virtual
68 root.
69 These options may also be controlled with resources in your .Xdefaults
71 file. For example: gnuplot*gray: on .
72 Gnuplot provides a command line option (-pointsize v) and a resource
74 (gnuplot*pointsize: v) to control the size of points plotted with the
75 "points" plotting style. The value v is a real number (greater than 0
76 and less than or equal to ten) used as a scaling factor for point
77 sizes. For example, -pointsize 2 uses points twice the default size,
78 and -pointsize 0.5 uses points half the normal size.
79 For monochrome displays, gnuplot does not honor foreground or back‐
81 ground colors. The default is black-on-white. -rv or gnuplot*reverseV‐
82 ideo: on requests white-on-black.
83 For color displays gnuplot honors the following resources (shown here
85 with default values). The values may be color names in the X11 rgb.txt
86 file on your system, hexadecimal RGB color specifications (see X11 doc‐
87 umentation), or a color name followed by a comma and an intensity value
88 from 0 to 1. For example, blue,.5 means a half intensity blue.
89 gnuplot*background: white
91 gnuplot*textColor: black
92 gnuplot*borderColor: black
93 gnuplot*axisColor: black
94 gnuplot*line1Color: red
95 gnuplot*line2Color: green
96 gnuplot*line3Color: blue
97 gnuplot*line4Color: magenta
98 gnuplot*line5Color: cyan
99 gnuplot*line6Color: sienna
100 gnuplot*line7Color: orange
101 gnuplot*line8Color: coral
102 When -gray is selected, gnuplot honors the following resources for
104 grayscale or color displays (shown here with default values). Note that
105 the default background is black.
106 gnuplot*background: black
108 gnuplot*textGray: white
109 gnuplot*borderGray: gray50
110 gnuplot*axisGray: gray50
111 gnuplot*line1Gray: gray100
112 gnuplot*line2Gray: gray60
113 gnuplot*line3Gray: gray80
114 gnuplot*line4Gray: gray40
115 gnuplot*line5Gray: gray90
116 gnuplot*line6Gray: gray50
117 gnuplot*line7Gray: gray70
118 gnuplot*line8Gray: gray30
119 Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the width in pixels
121 of plot lines (shown here with default values.) 0 or 1 means a minimal
122 width line of 1 pixel width. A value of 2 or 3 may improve the appear‐
123 ance of some plots.
124 gnuplot*borderWidth: 2
126 gnuplot*axisWidth: 0
127 gnuplot*line1Width: 0
128 gnuplot*line2Width: 0
129 gnuplot*line3Width: 0
130 gnuplot*line4Width: 0
131 gnuplot*line5Width: 0
132 gnuplot*line6Width: 0
133 gnuplot*line7Width: 0
134 gnuplot*line8Width: 0
135 Gnuplot honors the following resources for setting the dash style used
137 for plotting lines. 0 means a solid line. A 2 digit number jk (j and k
138 are >= 1 and <= 9) means a dashed line with a repeated pattern of j
139 pixels on followed by k pixels off. For example, '16' is a "dotted"
140 line with 1 pixel on followed by 6 pixels off. More elaborate on/off
141 patterns can be specified with a 4 digit value. For example, '4441' is
142 4 on, 4 off, 4 on, 1 off. The default values shown below are for mono‐
143 chrome displays or monochrome rendering on color or grayscale displays.
144 For color displays, the defaults for all are 0 (solid line) except for
145 axisDashes which defaults to a '16' dotted line.
146 gnuplot*borderDashes: 0
148 gnuplot*axisDashes: 16
149 gnuplot*line1Dashes: 0
150 gnuplot*line2Dashes: 42
151 gnuplot*line3Dashes: 13
152 gnuplot*line4Dashes: 44
153 gnuplot*line5Dashes: 15
154 gnuplot*line6Dashes: 4441
155 gnuplot*line7Dashes: 42
156 gnuplot*line8Dashes: 13
157 The size or aspect ratio of a plot may be changed by resizing the gnu‐
159 plot window.
160
162 Thomas Williams, Pixar Corporation,
163 (gnuplot-info@lists.sourceforge.net)
164 and Colin Kelley.
165 Additions for labelling by Russell Lang, Monash University, Australia.
167 (rjl@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au)
168 Further additions by David Kotz, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA
169 (formerly of Duke University, North Carolina, USA).
170 (David.Kotz@Dartmouth.edu)
171
173 See the help bugs command in gnuplot.
174
176 See the printed manual or the on-line help for details on specific com‐
177 mands.
178 X(1).
1794th Berkeley Distribution 03 January 2001 GNUPLOT(1)