1PLOT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOT(1)
2
6 plot - translate GNU metafiles to other graphics formats
7
9 plot [ options ] [ files ]
10
12 plot translates files in GNU metafile format to other graphics formats,
13 or displays them on an X Window System display. GNU metafile format is
14 a device-independent format for the storage of graphic data. It is the
15 default output format of the programs graph(1), pic2plot(1),
16 tek2plot(1), and plotfont(1), and is further documented in plot(5),
17 since it is an enhanced version of the traditional plot(5) format found
18 on non-GNU systems. It can also be produced by the GNU libplot 2-D
19 graphics export library (see plot(3)).
20 The output format is specified with the -T option. The possible output
22 formats and display types are the same as those supported by graph(1),
23 plotfont(1), pic2plot(1), and tek2plot(1). If an output file is pro‐
24 duced, it is written to standard output.
25 Options and file names may be interspersed on the command line, but the
27 options are processed before the file names are read. If -- is seen,
28 it is interpreted as the end of the options. If no file names are
29 specified, or the file name - is encountered, the standard input is
30 read.
31
33 General Options
34 -T type
35 --output-format type
36 Select type as the output format. It may be "X", "png", "pnm",
37 "gif", "svg", "ai", "ps", "cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis",
38 "tek", or "meta" (the default). These refer respectively to the
39 X Window System, PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format, porta‐
40 ble anymap format (PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF format that does
41 not use LZW encoding, the new XML-based Scalable Vector Graphics
42 format, the format used by Adobe Illustrator, Postscript or
43 Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) that can be edited with idraw(1),
44 CGM format (by default, confirming to the WebCGM profile), the
45 format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the Hewlett-Packard
46 PCL 5 printer language, the Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language,
47 ReGIS graphics format (which can be displayed by the dxterm(1)
48 terminal emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal), Tektronix
49 format (which can be displayed by the xterm(1) terminal emula‐
50 tor), and device-independent GNU metafile format itself. Unless
51 type is "X", an output file is produced and written to standard
52 output.
53 Omitting the -T option is equivalent to specifying -T meta.
55 Translating from metafile format to itself is occasionally use‐
56 ful, since there are two versions of metafile format (see the -O
57 option below).
58 A listing of the fonts available in any specified output format
60 may be obtained with the --help-fonts option (see below). If a
61 requested font is unavailable, a default font will be substi‐
62 tuted. The default font is "Helvetica" for "X", "svg", "ai",
63 "ps", "cgm", and "fig", "Univers" for "pcl", and "HersheySerif"
64 for "png", "pnm", "gif", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", and "meta".
65 -p n
67 --page-number n
68 Output only page number n, within the metafile or sequence of
69 metafiles that is being translated.
70 Metafiles may consist of one or more pages, numbered beginning
72 with 1. Also, each page may contain multiple `frames'. plot -T
73 X, plot -T regis, and plot -T tek, which plot in real time, will
74 separate successive frames by screen erasures. plot -T png,
75 plot -T pnm, plot -T gif, plot -T svg, plot -T ai, plot -T ps,
76 plot -T cgm, plot -T fig, plot -T pcl, and plot -T hpgl, which
77 do not plot in real time, will output only the last frame of any
78 multi-frame page.
79 The default behavior, if -p is not used, is to output all pages.
81 For example, plot -T X displays each page in its own X window.
82 If the -T png, -T pnm, -T gif, -T ai, or -T fig option is used,
83 the default behavior is to output only the first nonempty page,
84 since files in those output formats contain only a single page
85 of graphics.
86 Metafiles produced by graph(1) and plotfont(1) contain only a
88 single page (page #1), which consists of two frames: an empty
89 frame to clear the display, and a second frame that contains the
90 graphics.
91 -s
93 --merge-pages
94 Merge all displayed pages into a single page, and also merge all
95 `frames'.
96 This option is useful when merging together single-page plots
98 from different sources. For example, it can be used to merge
99 together plots obtained from separate invocations of graph(1).
100 --bitmap-size bitmap_size
102 Set the size of the graphics display in which the plot will be
103 drawn, in terms of pixels, to be bitmap_size. The default is
104 "570x570". This is relevant only to plot -T X, plot -T png,
105 plot -T pnm, and plot -T gif, all of which produce bitmaps. If
106 you choose a rectangular (non-square) window size, the fonts in
107 the plot will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by different fac‐
108 tors in the horizontal and vertical directions. For plot -T X,
109 this requires an X11R6 display. Any font that cannot be scaled
110 in this way will be replaced by a default scalable font, such as
111 the vector font "HersheySerif".
112 The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally well be used to
114 specify the window size. For backward compatibility, the X
115 resource Xplot.geometry may be used instead.
116 --emulate-color option
118 If option is yes, replace each color in the output by an appro‐
119 priate shade of gray. This is seldom useful, except when using
120 plot -T pcl to prepare output for a PCL 5 device. (Many mono‐
121 chrome PCL 5 devices, such as monochrome LaserJets, do a poor
122 job of emulating color on their own.) You may equally well
123 request color emulation by setting the environment variable EMU‐
124 LATE_COLOR to "yes".
125 --max-line-length max_line_length
127 Set the maximum number of points that a polygonal line may con‐
128 tain, before it is flushed out, to be max_line_length. If this
129 flushing occurs, the polygonal line will be split into two or
130 more sub-lines, though the splitting should not be noticeable.
131 The default value of max_line_length is 500.
132 The reason for splitting long polygonal lines is that some dis‐
134 play devices (e.g., old Postscript printers and pen HP-GL plot‐
135 ters) have limited buffer sizes. The environment variable
136 MAX_LINE_LENGTH can also be used to specify the maximum line
137 length.
138 --page-size pagesize
140 Set the size of the page on which the plot will be positioned.
141 This is relevant only to plot -T svg, plot -T ai, plot -T ps,
142 plot -T cgm, plot -T fig, plot -T pcl, and plot -T hpgl. The
143 default is "letter", which means an 8.5 inch by 11 inch page.
144 Any ISO page size in the range "a0"..."a4" or ANSI page size in
145 the range "a"..."e" may be specified ("letter" is an alias for
146 "a" and "tabloid" is an alias for "b"). "legal" and "ledger"
147 are recognized page sizes also. The environment variable PAGE‐
148 SIZE can equally well be used to specify the page size.
149 The graphics display in which the plot is drawn will, by
151 default, be a square region that occupies nearly the full width
152 of the specified page. An alternative size for the graphics
153 display can be specified. For example, the page size could be
154 specified as "letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or
155 "a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For all of the above except plot
156 -T hpgl, the graphics display will, by default, be centered on
157 the page. For all of the above except plot -T svg and plot -T
158 cgm, the graphics display may be repositioned manually, by spec‐
159 ifying the location of its lower left corner, relative to the
160 lower left corner of the page. For example, the page size could
161 be specified as "letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or "a4,xori‐
162 gin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also possible to specify an
163 offset vector. For example, the page size could be specified as
164 "letter,xoffset=1in", or "letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or
165 "a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM format it is possi‐
166 ble to specify the size of the graphics display, but not its
167 position.
168 --rotation angle
170 Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Recognized values
171 are "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent
172 to "0" and "90", respectively. The environment variable ROTA‐
173 TION can also be used to specify a rotation angle.
174 Parameter Initialization Options
176 The following options set the initial values of drawing parameters.
177 However, all of these may be overridden by directives in a metafile.
178 In fact, these options are useful primarily when plotting old metafiles
179 in the traditional (pre-GNU) plot(5) format, which did not support such
180 directives.
181 --bg-color name
183 Set the color initially used for the background to be name.
184 This is relevant only to plot -T X, plot -T png, plot -T pnm,
185 plot -T gif, plot -T svg, plot -T cgm, and plot -T regis. An
186 unrecognized name sets the color to the default, which is
187 "white". The environment variable BG_COLOR can equally well be
188 used to specify the background color.
189 If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transparent PNG file
191 or a transparent pseudo-GIF, respectively, may be produced by
192 setting the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable to the name
193 of the background color. If the -T svg or -T cgm option is
194 used, an output file without a background may be produced by
195 setting the background color to "none".
196 -f size
198 --font-size size
199 Set the size of the font initially used for rendering text, as a
200 fraction of the width of the graphics display, to be size. The
201 default is 0.0525.
202 -F name
204 --font-name name
205 Set the font initially used for text to be name. Font names are
206 case-insensitive. If the specified font is not available, the
207 default font will be used. Which fonts are available, and the
208 default font, depend on which -T option is specified (see
209 above). A list of available fonts can be obtained with the
210 --help-fonts option (see below).
211 -W line_width
213 --line-width line_width
214 Set the initial width of lines, as a fraction of the width of
215 the display, to be line_width. A negative value means that a
216 default value should be used. This value is format-dependent.
217 The interpretation of zero line width is also format-dependent
218 (in some output formats, a zero-width line is the thinnest line
219 that can be drawn; in others, a zero-width line is invisible).
220 --pen-color name
222 Set the initial pen color to be name. An unrecognized name sets
223 the pen color to the default, which is "black".
224 Options for Metafile Output
226 The following option is relevant only if the -T option is omitted or if
227 -T meta is used. In this case the output of plot, like the input, will
228 be in GNU graphics metafile format.
229 -O
231 --portable-output
232 Output the portable (human-readable) version of GNU metafile
233 format, rather than the binary version (the default). The for‐
234 mat of the binary version is machine-dependent.
235 Options for Backward Compatibility
237 By default, plot assumes that its input file(s) are in either the
238 binary version or the portable version of GNU metafile format. You may
239 specify that the input is, instead, in the traditional Unix (pre-GNU)
240 graphics metafile format, which is documented in plot(5). The tradi‐
241 tional graphics metafile format was produced by pre-GNU versions of
242 graph(1).
243 -h
245 --high-byte-first-input
246 Input file(s) are assumed to be in the binary, `high byte first'
247 version of traditional metafile format. This variant is uncom‐
248 mon.
249 -l
251 --low-byte-first-input
252 Input file(s) are assumed to be in the binary, `low byte first'
253 version of traditional metafile format. This variant is the
254 most common.
255 -A
257 --ascii-input
258 Input file(s) are assumed to be in the ASCII (human-readable)
259 variant of traditional metafile format. On some older Unix sys‐
260 tems, this variant was produced by plottoa(1).
261 Informational Options
263 --help Print a list of command-line options, and exit.
264 --help-fonts
266 Print a table of available fonts, and exit. The table will
267 depend on which output format is specified with the -T option.
268 plot -T X, plot -T svg, plot -T ai, plot -T ps, plot -T cgm, and
269 plot -T fig each support the 35 standard Postscript fonts. plot
270 -T svg, plot -T pcl, and plot -T hpgl support the 45 standard
271 PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support a number of
272 Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All seven support a set of 22
273 Hershey vector fonts, as do plot -T png, plot -T pnm, plot -T
274 gif, plot -T regis, and plot -T tek. plot without a -T option
275 in principle supports any of these fonts, since its output must
276 be translated to other formats by a further invocation of plot.
277 The plotfont(1) utility may be used to obtain a character map of
279 any supported font.
280 --list-fonts
282 Like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single column to
283 facilitate piping to other programs. If no output format is
284 specified with the -T option, the full set of supported fonts is
285 listed.
286 --version
288 Print the version number of plot and the plotting utilities
289 package, and exit.
290
292 The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR, EMU‐
293 LATE_COLOR, MAX_LINE_LENGTH and ROTATION serve as backups for the
294 options --bitmap-size, --page-size, --bg-color, --emulate-color,
295 --max-line-length, and --rotation, respectively. The remaining envi‐
296 ronment variables are specific to individual output formats.
297 plot -T X, which pops up a window on an X Window System display and
299 draws graphics in it, checks the DISPLAY environment variable. Its
300 value determines the display that will be used.
301 plot -T png and plot -T gif, which produce output in PNG format and
303 pseudo-GIF format respectively, are affected by the INTERLACE environ‐
304 ment variable. If its value is "yes", the output will be interlaced.
305 Also, if the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable is set to the name
306 of a color, that color will be treated as transparent in the output.
307 plot -T pnm, which produces output in portable anymap (PBM/PGM/PPM)
309 format, is affected by the PNM_PORTABLE environment variable. If its
310 value is "yes", the output will be in a human-readable format rather
311 than binary (the default).
312 plot -T cgm, which produces output in CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile)
314 format, is affected by the CGM_MAX_VERSION and CGM_ENCODING environment
315 variables. By default, it produces a binary-encoded version of CGM
316 version 3 format. For backward compatibility, the version number may
317 be reduced by setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1". Irrespective of
318 version, the output CGM file will use the human-readable clear text
319 encoding if CGM_ENCODING is set to "clear_text". However, only binary-
320 encoded CGM files conform to the WebCGM profile.
321 plot -T pcl, which produces PCL 5 output for Hewlett-Packard printers
323 and plotters, is affected by the environment variable PCL_ASSIGN_COL‐
324 ORS. It should be set to "yes" when producing PCL 5 output for a color
325 printer or other color device. This will ensure accurate color repro‐
326 duction by giving the output device complete freedom in assigning col‐
327 ors, internally, to its "logical pens". If it is "no" then the device
328 will use a fixed set of colored pens, and will emulate other colors by
329 shading. The default is "no" because monochrome PCL 5 devices, which
330 are much more common than colored ones, must use shading to emulate
331 color.
332 plot -T hpgl, which produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language output,
334 is affected by several environment variables. The most important is
335 HPGL_VERSION, which may be set to "1", "1.5", or "2" (the default).
336 "1" means that the output should be generic HP-GL, "1.5" means that the
337 output should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter and the
338 HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-GL with some HP-GL/2
339 extensions), and "2" means that the output should be modern HP-GL/2.
340 If the version is "1" or "1.5" then the only available fonts will be
341 vector fonts, and all lines will be drawn with a default width (the -W
342 option will not work). Additionally, if the version is "1" then the
343 filling of arbitrary curves with solid color will not be supported
344 (circles and rectangles aligned with the coordinate axes may be filled,
345 though).
346 The position of the plot -T hpgl graphics display on the page can be
348 rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise by setting the HPGL_ROTATE environ‐
349 ment variable to "yes". This is not the same as the rotation obtained
350 with the --rotation option, since it both rotates the graphics display
351 and repositions its lower left corner toward another corner of the
352 page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized values for HPGL_ROTATE are
353 "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and
354 "90", respectively. "180" and "270" are supported only if HPGL_VERSION
355 is "2" (the default).
356 By default, plot -T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of pens. Which
358 pens are present may be specified by setting the HPGL_PENS environment
359 variable. If HPGL_VERSION is "1", the default value of HPGL_PENS is
360 "1=black"; if HPGL_VERSION is "1.5" or "2", the default value of
361 HPGL_PENS is "1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yellow:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan".
362 The format should be self-explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS you may
363 specify a color for any pen in the range #1...#31. All color names
364 recognized by the X Window System may be used. Pen #1 must always be
365 present, though it need not be black. Any other pen in the range
366 #1...#31 may be omitted.
367 If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then plot -T hpgl will also be affected by the
369 environment variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS. If its value is "yes", then
370 plot -T hpgl will not be restricted to the palette specified in
371 HPGL_PENS: it will assign colors to "logical pens" in the range
372 #1...#31, as needed. The default value is "no" because other than
373 color LaserJet printers and DesignJet plotters, not many HP-GL/2
374 devices allow the assignment of colors to logical pens.
375 Opaque filling and the drawing of visible white lines are supported
377 only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" and the environment variable
378 HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its value is "no" then
379 white lines (if any), which are normally drawn with pen #0, will not be
380 drawn. This feature is to accommodate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2
381 pen plotters, for example, do not support opacity or the use of pen #0
382 to draw visible white lines. Some older HP-GL/2 devices may, in fact,
383 malfunction if asked to draw opaque objects.
384 plot -T tek, which produces output for a Tektronix terminal or emula‐
386 tor, checks the TERM environment variable. If the value of TERM is a
387 string beginning with "xterm", "nxterm", or "kterm", it is taken as a
388 sign that plot is running in an X Window System VT100 terminal emula‐
389 tor: a copy of xterm(1), nxterm(1), or kterm(1). Before drawing graph‐
390 ics, plot -T tek will emit an escape sequence that causes the terminal
391 emulator's auxiliary Tektronix window, which is normally hidden, to pop
392 up. After the graphics are drawn, an escape sequence that returns con‐
393 trol to the original VT100 window will be emitted. The Tektronix win‐
394 dow will remain on the screen.
395 If the value of TERM is a string beginning with "kermit", "ansi.sys",
397 or "nansi.sys", it is taken as a sign that plot is running in the VT100
398 terminal emulator provided by the MS-DOS version of kermit(1). Before
399 drawing graphics, plot -T tek will emit an escape sequence that
400 switches the terminal emulator to Tektronix mode. Also, some of the
401 Tektronix control codes emitted by plot -T tek will be kermit-specific.
402 There will be a limited amount of color support, which is not normally
403 the case (the 16 `ansi.sys' colors will be supported). After drawing
404 graphics, plot -T tek will emit an escape sequence that returns the
405 emulator to VT100 mode. The key sequence `ALT minus' can be employed
406 manually within kermit to switch between the two modes.
407
409 graph(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), plotfont(1), plot(3), plot(5), and
410 "The GNU Plotting Utilities Manual".
411
413 plot was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.arizona.edu).
414
416 Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.
417FSF Jun 2000 PLOT(1)