NAME¶
gnuplot - an interactive plotting program
SYNOPSIS¶
gnuplot [X11 options] [options] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION¶
Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive 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 math 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.
Many presentation styles for plotting user data from files, including
surface-fitting, error bars, boxplots, histograms, heat maps, and simple
manipulation of image data. There is an on-line demo collection at
http://gnuplot.info/demo
Nonlinear least-squares fitting.
2D and 3D plots with mouse-controlled zoom and rotation.
Shell escapes and command line substitution.
Load and save capability.
Support for a huge variety of output devices and file formats.
OPTIONS¶
-p, --persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program exits.
-d, --default settings. Do not read from gnuplotrc or ~/.gnuplot on
entry.
-e "command list" executes the requested commands before
loading the next input file.
-h, --help print summary of usage
-V show current version
X11 OPTIONS¶
Gnuplot provides the
x11 terminal type for use with X servers.
This terminal type is set automatically at startup if the
GNUTERM
environment variable is set to x11, 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 common options. For additional X options
specific to gnuplot, type
help x11 on the gnuplot command line.
ENVIRONMENT¶
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 by default. This can be
overridden by the gnuplotrc or .gnuplot start-up files and, of course, by
later explicit "set terminal" commands.
- GNUHELP
- The pathname of the HELP file (gnuplot.gih).
- HOME
- The name of a directory to search for a .gnuplot file.
- 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".
FILES¶
- gnuplotrc
- When gnuplot is run, it first looks for a system-wide initialization file
named gnuplotrc. The standard location of this file expected by the
program is reported by the "show loadpath" command.
- .gnuplot
- After loading the system-wide initialization file, if any, Gnuplot looks
for a private initialization file in the HOME directory. It may contain
any legal gnuplot commands, but typically they are limited to setting the
preferred terminal and line types and defining frequently-used functions
or variables.
- fit.log
- The default name of the logfile output by the "fit"
command.
AUTHORS¶
Original authors: Thomas Williams and Colin Kelley. Starting with gnuplot
version 3.8, the project source is cooperatively maintained on SourceForge by
a large number of contributors.
BUGS¶
Please report bugs using the project bug tracker on SourceForge.
SEE ALSO¶
See the printed manual or the on-line help for details on specific commands.
Project web site at
http://gnuplot.info