GNUPLOT(1)                                                    General Commands Manual                                                   GNUPLOT(1)

NAME

       gnuplot - an interactive plotting program

SYNOPSIS

       gnuplot [X11 options] [options] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

       Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function 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 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.

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

       Nonlinear least-squares fitting.

       2D plots with mouse-controlled zooming.

       3D plots with mouse-controlled point of view.

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

       Labelling of X and Y axes.

       Shell escapes and command line substitution.

       Load and save capability.

       Support for many output devices and file formats.

       Output redirection.

OPTIONS

       -p, --persist lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program exits.

       -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 DISPLAY environ-
       ment variable is set, if the TERM environment variable is set to xterm, 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 the options.  In addition 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 rendering by default.)

       -mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays.

       -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*reverseV-
       ideo: 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*textColor: black
       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 mini-
       mal 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 followed by k pixels off.  For example, '16' is a
       "dotted" line with 1 pixel on followed by 6 pixels off.  More elaborate on/off patterns can be specified with a 4 digit value.   For  exam-
       ple,  '4441'  is  4  on, 4 off, 4 on, 1 off. 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' dotted 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.

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.  This overrides any terminal type sensed by gnuplot on start-up, but is itself  overridden
              by the .gnuplot (or equivalent) start-up file (see FILES and "help start-up") and, of course, by later explicit changes.

       GNUHELP
              The pathname of the HELP file (gnuplot.gih).

       HOME   The name of a directory to search for a .gnuplot file if none is found in the current directory.

       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 driv-
              ers.

       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

       .gnuplot
              Gnuplot  looks  for  this initialization file, first in the current directory, then in the HOME directory.  It may contain any legal
              gnuplot commands, but typically they are limited to setting the terminal and defining frequently-used functions or variables.

       fit.log
              The default name of the logfile maintained by fit.

AUTHORS

       Thomas Williams, Pixar Corporation,
       (gnuplot-info@lists.sourceforge.net)
       and Colin Kelley.

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

BUGS

       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).

4th Berkeley Distribution                                          7 October 2008                                                       GNUPLOT(1)