gnuplot - an interactive plotting program


SYNOPSIS

       gnuplot [ X11 options ] [file ...]


DESCRIPTION

       Gnuplot  is a command-driven interactive function plotting
       program.

       If files are given, gnuplot loads each file with the  load
       command,  in the order specified.  Gnuplot exits after the
       last file is processed.

       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.  Also support for plotting data files, to com­
       pare actual data to theoretical curves.

       User-defined X and Y ranges (optional auto-ranging), smart
       axes scaling, smart tic marks.

       Labelling of X and Y axes.

       User-defined constants and functions.

       Support through a generalized graphics driver for AED 512,
       AED  767,  BBN  BitGraph, Commodore Amiga, Roland DXY800A,
       EEPIC, TeXDraw, EmTeX, Epson 60dpi printers, Epson LX-800,
       Fig, HP2623, HP2648, HP75xx, HPGL, HP LaserJet II, Imagen,
       Iris 4D, Linux,  MS-DOS  Kermit,  Kyocera  laser  printer,
       LaTeX,  NEC  CP6  pinwriter,  PostScript,  QMS QUIC, ReGis
       (VT125 and VT2xx), SCO  Xenix  CGI,  Selanar,  Star  color
       printer,  Tandy  DMP-130 printer, Tek 401x, Tek 410x, Vec­
       trix 384, VT like Tektronix emulator, Unix PC (ATT 3b1  or
       ATT  7300), unixplot, and X11.  The PC version compiled by
       Microsoft C supports IBM  CGA,  EGA,  VGA,  Hercules,  ATT
       6300, and Corona 325 graphics.  The PC version compiled by
       Borland C++ supports IBM CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, Hercules and
       ATT 6300 graphics.  Other devices can be added simply, but
       will require recompiling.

       Shell escapes and command line substitution.

       Load and save capability.

       Output redirection.

       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.

       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 -dis­
       play  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  addi­
       tion 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 render­
       ing by default.)

       -mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays.

       -persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot pro­
       gram exits.

       -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*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  fol­
       lowed  by  k  pixels off.  For example, '16' is a "dotted"
       line with 1 pixel on followed by 6 pixels off.  More elab­
       orate  on/off  patterns  can  be  specified with a 4 digit

       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'  dot­
       ted 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.


AUTHORS

       Thomas Williams, Pixar Corporation,
       (info-gnuplot@dartmouth.edu)
       and Colin Kelley.

       Additions for labelling by Russell  Lang,  Monash  Univer­
       sity, Australia.
       (rjl@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au)
       Further  additions  by  David Kotz, Dartmouth College, New
       Hampshire, USA (formerly of Duke  University,  North  Car­
       olina, USA).
       (David.Kotz@Dartmouth.edu)


BUGS

       The  atan()  function  does not work correctly for complex
       arguments.
       The bessel functions do not work for complex arguments.
       See the help bugs command in gnuplot.


SEE ALSO

       See the printed manual or the on-line help for details  on
       specific commands.
       X(1).


Man(1) output converted with man2html