Annotation of OpenXM_contrib/gnuplot/0FAQ, Revision 1.1.1.3
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1: Gnuplot FAQ
! 2:
1.1 maekawa 3:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 4: Contents
1.1 maekawa 5:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 6: * 0 Meta - Questions
! 7: + 0.1 Where do I get this document?
! 8: + 0.2 Where do I send comments about this document?
! 9:
! 10: * 1 General Information
! 11: + 1.1 What is gnuplot?
! 12: + 1.2 How did it come about and why is it called gnuplot?
! 13: + 1.3 Does gnuplot have anything to do with the FSF and the GNU project?
! 14: + 1.4 What does gnuplot offer?
! 15: + 1.5 Is gnuplot suitable for batch processing?
! 16: + 1.6 Can I run gnuplot on my computer?
! 17: + 1.7 Legalize it!
! 18: + 1.8 Is gnuplot Y2K compliant?
! 19: + 1.9 Where do I get further information?
! 20:
! 21: * 2 Setting it up
! 22: + 2.1 What is the current version of gnuplot?
! 23: + 2.2 Where can I get gnuplot?
! 24: + 2.3 How do I get gnuplot to compile on my system?
! 25: + 2.4 What documentation is there, and how do I get it?
! 26:
! 27: * 3 Working with it.
! 28: + 3.1 How do I get help?
! 29: + 3.2 How do I print out my graphs?
! 30: + 3.3 How do I include my graphs in <word processor>?
! 31: + 3.4 How do I post-process a gnuplot graph?
! 32: + 3.5 How do I change symbol size, line thickness and the like?
! 33: + 3.6 How do I generate plots in the GIF format?
! 34: + 3.7 Can I animate my graphs?
! 35: + 3.8 How do I plot implicit defined graphs?
! 36:
! 37: * 4 Wanted features
! 38: + 4.1 What's new in gnuplot 3.7?
! 39: + 4.2 Does gnuplot have hidden line removal?
! 40: + 4.3 Does gnuplot support bar-charts/histograms/boxes?
! 41: + 4.4 Does gnuplot support pie charts?
! 42: + 4.5 Does gnuplot quarterly time charts?
! 43: + 4.6 Does gnuplot support multiple y-axes on a single plot?
! 44: + 4.7 Can I put multiple pages on one page?
! 45: + 4.8 Can I put both data files and commands into a single file?
! 46: + 4.9 Can I put Greek letters and super/subscripts into my labels?
! 47: + 4.10 Can I do 1:1 scaling of axes?
! 48: + 4.11 Can I put tic marks for x and y axes into 3d plots?
! 49: + 4.12 Does gnuplot support a driver for <graphics format>?
! 50: + 4.13 Can I put different text sizes into my plots?
! 51: + 4.14 How do I modify gnuplot, and apply 'patches'?
! 52: + 4.15 How do I skip data points?
! 53: + 4.16 How do I plot every nth point?
! 54: + 4.17 How do I plot a vertical line?
! 55: + 4.18 How do I plot data files
! 56: + 4.19 How do I include accentuated characters in Postscript output?
! 57:
! 58: * 5 Miscellaneous
! 59: + 5.1 I've found a bug, what do I do?
! 60: + 5.2 Can I use gnuplot routines for my own programs?
! 61: + 5.3 What extensions have people made to gnuplot? Where can I get them?
! 62: + 5.4 I need an integration, fft, iir-filter,....!
! 63: + 5.5 Can I do heavy-duty data processing with gnuplot? or What is beyond
! 64: gnuplot?
! 65: + 5.6 I have ported gnuplot to another system, or patched it. What do I
! 66: do?
! 67: + 5.7 I want to help in developing the next version of gnuplot. What can
! 68: I do?
! 69: + 5.8 Open questions for inclusion into the FAQ?
! 70:
! 71: * 6 Making life easier
! 72: + 6.1 How do I plot two functions in non-overlapping regions?
! 73: + 6.2 How do I run my data through a filter before plotting?
! 74: + 6.3 How do I make it easier to use gnuplot with LATEX?
! 75: + 6.4 How do I save and restore my settings?
! 76: + 6.5 How do I plot lines (not grids) using splot?
! 77: + 6.6 How do I plot a function f(x,y) which is bounded by other functions
! 78: in the x-y plain?
! 79: + 6.7 How do I get rid of <feature> in a plot?
! 80: + 6.8 How do I call gnuplot from my own programs?
! 81: + 6.9 What if I need h-bar (Planck's constant)?
! 82:
! 83: * 7 Known Problems
! 84: + 7.1 Gnuplot is not plotting any points under X11! How come?
! 85: + 7.2 My isoline data generated by a Fortran program is not handled
! 86: correctly. What can I do?
! 87: + 7.3 Why does gnuplot ignore my very small numbers?
! 88: + 7.4 Gnuplot is plotting nothing when run via gnuplot <filename>! What
! 89: can I do?
! 90: + 7.5 My formulas are giving me nonsense results! What's going on?
! 91: + 7.6 Set output 'filename' isn't outputting everything it should!
! 92: + 7.7 When using the LATEX-terminal, there is an error during the
! 93: LATEX-run!
! 94: + 7.8 The exit command does not work as documented!
! 95: + 7.9 I can't find the demos and example files at the URLs in the
! 96: documentation!
! 97: + 7.10 Calling gnuplot in a pipe or with a gnuplot-script doesn't produce
! 98: a plot!
! 99:
! 100: * 8 Credits
1.1.1.2 maekawa 101:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 102: 0 Meta - Questions
1.1.1.2 maekawa 103:
104: 0.1 Where do I get this document?
105:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 106: This document is posted about once every two weeks to the newsgroups ~
! 107: comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot. Its newest (plaintext) version is available via
! 108: anonymous ftp from ftp.gnuplot.info in /pub/gnuplot/faq/gnuplot-faq.txt.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 109:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 110: If you have access to the WWW, you can get the newest version of this document
! 111: from http://www.ucc.ie/gnuplot/gnuplot-faq.html.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 112:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 113: Today's version is version $Revision: 1.3.2.8 $, dated $Date: 2002/12/07 18:33:
! 114: 30 $
1.1.1.2 maekawa 115:
116: 0.2 Where do I send comments about this document?
117:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 118: Send comments, suggestions etc via email to the developer mailing list
! 119: info-gnuplot-beta@Dartmouth.EDU.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 120:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 121: 1 General Information
1.1.1.2 maekawa 122:
123: 1.1 What is gnuplot?
124:
125: gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function plotting program. It can be
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 126: used to plot functions and data points in both two- and three-dimensional plots
! 127: in many different formats, and will accommodate many of the needs of today's
! 128: scientists for graphic data representation. gnuplot is copyrighted, but freely
! 129: distributable; you don't have to pay for it.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 130:
131: This document deals with gnuplot Version 3.7 which is the latest official
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 132: release as of December 10, 2002. References to bug-fix versions or (recent)
1.1.1.2 maekawa 133: beta versions are explicitly marked.
134:
135: 1.2 How did it come about and why is it called gnuplot?
136:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 137: The authors of gnuplot are: Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley, Russell Lang, Dave
! 138: Kotz, John Campbell, Gershon Elber, Alexander Woo and many others.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 139:
140: The following quote comes from Thomas Williams:
1.1 maekawa 141:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 142: I was taking a differential equation class and Colin was taking
! 143: Electromagnetics, we both thought it'd be helpful to visualize the
! 144: mathematics behind them. We were both working as sys admin for an EE VLSI
! 145: lab, so we had the graphics terminals and the time to do some coding. The
! 146: posting was better received than we expected, and prompted us to add some,
! 147: albeit lame, support for file data.
! 148:
! 149: Any reference to GNUplot is incorrect. The real name of the program is
! 150: "gnuplot". You see people use "gnuplot" quite a bit because many of us have
! 151: an aversion to starting a sentence with a lower case letter, even in the
! 152: case of proper nouns and titles. gnuplot is not related to the GNU project
! 153: or the FSF in any but the most peripheral sense. Our software was designed
! 154: completely independently and the name "gnuplot" was actually a compromise.
! 155: I wanted to call it "llamaplot" and Colin wanted to call it "nplot." We
! 156: agreed that "newplot" was acceptable but, we then discovered that there was
! 157: an absolutely ghastly pascal program of that name that the Computer Science
! 158: Dept. occasionally used. I decided that "gnuplot" would make a nice pun and
! 159: after a fashion Colin agreed.
1.1 maekawa 160:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 161: 1.3 Does gnuplot have anything to do with the FSF and the GNU project?
162:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 163: Gnuplot is neither written nor maintained by the FSF. It is not covered by the
! 164: General Public License, either. It used to be distributed by the FSF, however,
! 165: due to licensing issues it is no longer.
! 166:
! 167: Gnuplot is freeware in the sense that you don't have to pay for it. However it
! 168: is not freeware in the sense that you would be allowed to distribute a modified
! 169: version of your gnuplot freely. Please read and accept the Copyright file in
! 170: your distribution.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 171:
172: 1.4 What does gnuplot offer?
173:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 174: * Plotting of two-dimensional functions and data points in many different
! 175: styles (points, lines, error bars)
! 176: * computations in integer, float and complex arithmetic
! 177: * plotting of three-dimensional data points and surfaces in many different
! 178: styles (contour plot, mesh).
! 179: * support for complex arithmetic
! 180: * self - defined functions
! 181: * support for a large number of operating systems, graphics file formats and
! 182: devices
! 183: * extensive on-line help
! 184: * labels for title, axes, data points
! 185: * command line editing and history on most platforms
1.1.1.2 maekawa 186:
187: 1.5 Is gnuplot suitable for batch processing?
188:
189: Yes. You can read in files from the command line, or you can redirect your
190: standard input to read from a file. Both data and command files can be
191: generated automatically, from data acquisition programs or whatever else you
192: use.
193:
194: 1.6 Can I run gnuplot on my computer?
195:
196: Gnuplot is available for a number of platforms. These are: Unix (X11 and
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 197: NeXTSTEP), VAX/VMS, OS/2, MS-DOS, Amiga, MS-Windows, OS-9/68k, Atari ST, BeOS,
! 198: and the Macintosh.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 199:
200: Please notify the FAQ-maintainer of any further ports you might be aware of.
201:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 202: You should be able to compile the gnuplot source more or less out of the box on
! 203: any reasonable standard (ANSI/ISO C, POSIX) environment.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 204:
205: 1.7 Legalize it!
206:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 207: Gnuplot is freeware authored by a collection of volunteers, who cannot make any
! 208: legal statement about the compliance or non-compliance of gnuplot or its uses.
! 209: There is also no warranty whatsoever. Use at your own risk.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 210:
211: Citing from the README of a mathematical subroutine package by R. Freund:
212:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 213: For all intent and purpose, any description of what the codes are doing
! 214: should be construed as being a note of what we thought the codes did on our
! 215: machine on a particular Tuesday of last year. If you're really lucky, they
! 216: might do the same for you someday. Then again, do you really feel *that*
! 217: lucky?
1.1.1.2 maekawa 218:
219: 1.8 Is gnuplot Y2K compliant?
220:
221: Gnuplot's compliance depends in part on the compliance of the underlying
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 222: operating system and hardware. The only use gnuplot makes of a system- supplied
! 223: date is in the "set timestamp" command, which simply echos the date on the
! 224: plot. If the underlying OS cannot produce an accurate time string, then the
! 225: "set timestamp" command may fail to print the correct date on plots.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 226:
227: In gnuplot 3.5, if the user chooses to use %y in a timestamp format, rather
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 228: than %Y, it will print 2-digit rather than 4-digit years. The effects depend on
! 229: the importance you place on the timestamps printed on plots.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 230:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 231: Gnuplot 3.7 also allows the use of time/date data as variables, but the user
! 232: has complete control over the input format of the data and the output format of
! 233: the tic labels - the same 2-digit "%y" (interpreted as 1900+) and 4-digit "%Y"
! 234: formats are both available. But again, these are user-specifiable, so if there
! 235: is a Y2K problem here, it is the responsibility of the user.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 236:
237: Of course, gnuplot is built by executing a makefile, which may well be
238: date-dependent. So if the operating system has a Y2K problem, the process of
239: building a new executable of gnuplot may be affected. But that wouldn't be a
240: problem with gnuplot per se.
241:
242: IMPORTANT NOTICE
243:
244: As of gnuplot beta version 3.7.0.9, the interpretation of the "%y" two digit
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 245: year specifier was changed in accordance with the recommendations of The Open
! 246: Group and all major Unix vendors. When a century is not otherwise specified,
! 247: values in the range 69-99 refer to the twentieth century and values in the
! 248: range 00-68 refer to the twenty-first century. Be very careful when
! 249: interpreting 2-digit year expressions.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 250:
251: 1.9 Where do I get further information?
252:
253: The following sites have more information about gnuplot.
254:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 255: * http://www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de/doc/gnu/gnuplot37/gnuplot.html an online
! 256: documentation in html-format
! 257: * http://www.usf.uni-osnabrueck.de/ breiter/tools/gnuplot/index.en.html has
! 258: many links to many features and add-ons for gnuplot
! 259: * http://web.cs.uni.edu/Help/gnuplot/ contains an online tutorial
! 260: * http://brian.me.tufts.edu/GnuplotInLaTeX/ contains infos abount gnuplot and
! 261: LATEX
! 262: * http://ndevilla.free.fr/gnuplot/ explains the use of a gnuplot API in ANSI
! 263: C (commonly known as gnuplot_pipes
! 264: * http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/ cottrell/qplot/ on how to plot quarterly time
! 265: data
! 266: * http://monsoon.harvard.edu/ mhagger/download a Python interface for gnuplot
! 267: * ftp.thewrittenword.com in /free/by-package/ contains Solaris, IRIX, HP-UX
! 268: and Digital Unix binaries
! 269: * http://www.sci.muni.cz/ mikulik/gnuplot.html has Petr's famous OS/2 mouse
! 270: support and the pm3d terminal for colour 3d surfaces. Furthermore some more
! 271: links to other sites
! 272:
! 273: Some documentation is available in other languages than English. Those include:
! 274:
! 275: * http://www.multimania.com/ gersoo/gnuplt/index.html contient des
! 276: informations dans la langue de Molière: les 1ers pas avec gnuplot,
! 277: malheureusement seulement version 3.5. Vous trouverez un cours directement
! 278: en ligne appelleé "1ers pas avec gnuplot". Le cours est aussi disponible en
! 279: Postscript.
! 280: * http://www.al.lu/euler/gnuplot.shtml encore des informations en langue
! 281: française avec possibilité de téléchargement des versions binaires
! 282:
! 283: Here are some more sites, however these are somewhat outdated in carrying still
! 284: references to beta versions. If you download software from there you should be
! 285: aware that beta versions are not officially endorsed.
! 286:
! 287: * http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/gnuplot_info.html slightly outdated site for
! 288: the 3.6 beta version, but also a web-gateway to the users' newsgroup
! 289: * http://members.theglobe.com/gnuplot/ basically same as above.
! 290: * http://homepage.mac.com/gnuplot/ is the new site for a Macintosh port of
! 291: gnuplot
! 292:
! 293: The following sites were said to exist, however they seem to be down right now.
! 294:
! 295: * http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Foothills/6647/ the copyright
! 296: statement and some binaries contains ads
! 297: * http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/gnuplot/gplot_toc.html doesn't work
! 298: * picard.tamu.edu in /pub/gnuplot gives a tutorial
! 299: * http://feff.phys.washington.edu/ ravel/gnuplot has a new mode for the users
! 300: of (X)Emacs
1.1.1.2 maekawa 301:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 302: 2 Setting it up
1.1.1.2 maekawa 303:
304: 2.1 What is the current version of gnuplot?
305:
306: The current version of gnuplot is 3.7, which has many improvements over 3.5.
307: 3.6 was never released to avoid confusions with the beta versions.
308:
309:
310: 2.2 Where can I get gnuplot?
311:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 312: The best place is definitly http://www.gnuplot.info. From there you find
! 313: various pointers to other sites.
! 314:
! 315: The source distribution ("gnuplot-3.7.tar.gz" or a similar name) is available
! 316: from the official distribution site and its mirrors.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 317:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 318: The main server is ftp.gnuplot.info in /pub/gnuplot/. This server is mirrored
! 319: by several others, among those are
1.1.1.2 maekawa 320:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 321: * mirror.aarnet.edu.au in /pub/gnuplot/
! 322: * ftp.dartmouth.edu in /pub/gnuplot/
! 323: * ftp.irisa.fr in /pub/gnuplot/
! 324: * ftp.gnuplot.vt.edu in /pub/gnuplot/
! 325:
! 326: You can also have a look at the following WWW-pages which provide a source to
! 327: obtain gnuplot:
! 328:
! 329: * http://members.theglobe.com/gnuplot/
! 330: * http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Foothills/6647/
! 331: * http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/gnuplot/
1.1.1.2 maekawa 332:
333: The current version for the Macintosh is 2.04b, based on gnuplot 3.5
334: pre3.6beta338, and is available from
335:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 336: * http://users.ece.gatech.edu/ schooley/.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 337:
338: Unfortunately, this version does not seem to be maintained anymore.
339:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 340: Source and binary distributions for the Amiga are available on Aminet
1.1.1.2 maekawa 341: ftp.wustl.edu in aminet/ and its mirrors, for example ftp.uni-kl.de,
342: oes.orst.edu or ftp.luth.se.
343:
344: MS-DOS and MS-Windows binaries are available from the above servers and are
345: called gp37dos.zip, gp37dj.zip, gp37w16.zip, gp37mgw.zip, gnuplot3.7cyg.zip.
346:
347: OS/2 binaries are called gp37os2.zip.
348:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 349: An X11 Window System front-end is available at http://www.flash.net/ dmishee/
! 350: xgfe/xgfe.html.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 351:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 352: The NeXTSTEP front end can be found at next-ftp.peak.org in /pub/next/binaries/
! 353: plotting/Gnuplot1.2_bin.tar.Z.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 354:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 355: A version for OS-9/68K can be found at cabrales.cs.wisc.edu in /pub/OSK/
! 356: GRAPHICS/gnuplot32x.tar.Z; it includes both an X-Window Systems and a non -
! 357: X-Window Systems version.
! 358:
! 359: Versions for the Atari ST and TT, which include some GEM windowing support, are
! 360: available from ftp.uni-kl.de in /pub/atari/graphics/, as gplt35st.zip and
! 361: gplt35tt.zip. They work best under MiNT.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 362:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 363: Executable files, plus documentation in Japanese, exist for the X680x0 on
! 364: ftp.csis.oita-u.ac.jp in /pub/x68k/fj.binaries.x68000/vol2.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 365:
366: It is a good idea to look for a nearby ftp site when downloading things. You
367: can use archie for this. See if an archie client is installed at your system
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 368: (by simply typing archie at the command prompt), or send mail to
! 369: archie@sura.net with the word 'help' in both the subject line and the body of
! 370: the mail. However, be aware that the version you find at a near ftp site may
! 371: well be out of date; check the last modification date and the number of bytes
! 372: against the newest release at one of the official servers.
! 373:
! 374: If you can't locate a working archie server, you can use other web-based search
! 375: engines for searching for gnuplot. One of these would be Lycos at http://
! 376: ftpsearch.lycos.com/.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 377:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 378: As of June 1999, the gnuplot distribution is also mirrored at the Comprehensive
! 379: TeX Archive Network (CTAN) in the graphics/gnuplot directory. See
! 380:
! 381: * http://www.ctan.org/.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 382:
383: Bug fixes can also be found at gnuplot distribution sites in the patches
384: directory.
385:
386: 2.3 How do I get gnuplot to compile on my system?
387:
388: As you would any other installation. Read the files README.1ST and README.
389:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 390: For Unix, use configure and make. For DOS, if you are using bash and DJGPP, you
! 391: can just run djconfig.sh. For other platforms, copy the relevant makefile from
! 392: config/ to src, change to src and run make.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 393:
394: 2.4 What documentation is there, and how do I get it?
395:
396: The documentation is included in the source distribution. Look at the docs
397: subdirectory, where you'll find
398:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 399: * a Unix man page, which says how to start gnuplot
! 400: * a help file, which also can be printed as a manual
! 401: * a tutorial on using gnuplot with LATEX
! 402: * a quick reference summary sheet for TEXonly
1.1.1.2 maekawa 403:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 404: PostScript copies of the documentation can be ftp'd from ftp.dartmouth.edu in /
! 405: pub/gnuplot, as manual.ps.Z and tutorial.ps.Z
1.1.1.2 maekawa 406:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 407: The documentation is built during the installation if you have LATEX installed
! 408: on your system, look in the directories docs and tutorial.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 409:
410: Documentation about gnuplot is available in the most common formats at the
411: gnuplot distribution sites in the files gpdoc.zip and gpdoc2.zip.
412:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 413: 3 Working with it.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 414:
415: 3.1 How do I get help?
416:
417: Read this document.
418:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 419: Give the 'help' command at the initial prompt. After that, keep looking through
! 420: the keywords. Good starting points are 'plot' and 'set'.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 421:
422: Read the manual, if you have it.
423:
424: Look through the demo subdirectory; it should give you some ideas.
425:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 426: Ask your colleagues, the system administrator or the person who set up gnuplot.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 427:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 428: If all these fail, please upgrade to the newest version of gnuplot or urge your
! 429: system-administrator to do so. Then post a question to ~
! 430: comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot or send mail to the gatewayed mailing list
! 431: info-gnuplot@dartmouth.edu. Do not forget to cite the version number and the
! 432: operating system. If you want to subscribe to the mailing list, send a mail to
! 433: majordomo@dartmouth.edu with the body of the message being 'subscribe
! 434: info-gnuplot'. Please don't do this if you can get ~comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
! 435: directly. If you post a question there, it is considered good form to solicit
! 436: e-mail replies and post a summary.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 437:
438: 3.2 How do I print out my graphs?
439:
440: The kind of output produced is determined by the 'set terminal' command; for
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 441: example, 'set terminal postscript' will produce the graph in PostScript format.
! 442: Output can be redirected using the 'set output' command.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 443:
444: As an example, the following prints out a graph of sin(x) on a Unix machine
445: running the X-Window System.
446:
447: gnuplot> plot [-6:6] sin(x)
448: gnuplot> set terminal postscript
449: Terminal type set to 'postscript'
450: Options are 'landscape monochrome "Courier" 14'
451: gnuplot> set output "sin.ps"
452: gnuplot> replot
453: gnuplot> set output # set output back to default
454: gnuplot> set terminal x11 # ditto for terminal type
455: gnuplot> ! lp -ops sin.ps # print PS File (site dependent)
456: request id is lprint-3433 (standard input)
457: lp: printed file sin.ps on fg20.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (5068 Byte)
458: !
459: gnuplot>
460:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 461: In Microschrott Windows you click in the upper left corner of the graph window
! 462: and print directly from there.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 463:
464: 3.3 How do I include my graphs in <word processor>?
465:
466: Basically, you save your plot to a file in a format your word processor can
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 467: understand (using "set term" and "set output", see above), and then you read in
! 468: the plot from your word processor. Vector formats should be preferred, as you
! 469: can scale your graph later to the right size.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 470:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 471: Details depend on the kind of word processor you use; use "set term" to get a
! 472: list of available file formats.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 473:
474: Many word processors can use Encapsulated PostScript for graphs. This can be
475: generated by the "set terminal postscript eps" command. Most MS-DOS word
476: processors understand HPGL (terminal type hpgl).
477:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 478: With TeX, it depends on what you use to print your dvi files. If you use dvips
! 479: or dvi2ps, you can use Encapsulated PostScript. For emTeX (popular for MS-DOSns
! 480: OS/2), you can use emTeX, otherwise use the LATEX terminal type, which
! 481: generates a picture environment.
! 482:
! 483: If nothing else helps, try using the pgm or ppm format and converting it to a
! 484: bitmap format your favourite word processor can understand. An invaluable tool
! 485: for this is Jef Poskanzer's PBMPLUS package.
! 486:
! 487: The PBMPLUS package is available in the contrib distribution for the X-Window
! 488: System. The original site for this is ftp.x.org in /contrib/. There are many
! 489: mirrors, e.g. ftp.tu-darmstadt.de in /pub/X11/contrib/ or . sunsite.unc.edu in
! 490: /pub/X11/contrib/.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 491:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 492: The most recent release of pbm by the author is dated December 91 and is called
! 493: pbmplus10dec91.tar.Z.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 494:
495: There is new version including lots of patches from the net that is not
496: maintained by the author called netpbm, with the newest version called
497: netpbm-1mar1994.tar.gz.
498:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 499: Check archie (see Q[*] ) for an archive site near you.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 500:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 501: For Microso$t Windows and MacOS you can use the clip board to copy your graph
! 502: and paste it into your favourite Windows or MacOS word processor.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 503:
504: 3.4 How do I post-process a gnuplot graph?
505:
506: This depends on the terminal type you use.
507:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 508: You can use the terminal type fig (you may need to recompile gnuplot to enable
! 509: this terminal type, by putting #define FIG into <term.h>), and use the xfig
! 510: drawing program to edit the plot afterwards. You can obtain the xfig program
! 511: from its web site http://www.xfig.org/. More information about the text-format
! 512: used for fig can be found in the fig-package.
! 513:
! 514: You may use the tgif terminal, which creates output suitable for reading within
! 515: tgif (http://bourbon.cs.umd.edu:8001/tgif/), an interactive 2-D drawing tool
! 516: under X11.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 517:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 518: Both tgif and xfig can also be obtained from the X Window contrib distribution
! 519: (see Q3.3).
1.1.1.2 maekawa 520:
521: Pstoedit can convert Postscript into a wide variety of formats. Pstoedit is
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 522: available a http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Nework/1958/pstoedit/.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 523:
524: Gimp may be able to post-process pixel graphics generated with gnuplot.
525:
526: In general, you should use a vector graphics program to post-process vector
527: graphic formats, and pixel based programs for pixel graphics.
528:
529: 3.5 How do I change symbol size, line thickness and the like?
530:
531: Again, this depends on the terminal type. For PostScript, you can edit the
532: generated PostScript file. An overview of what means what in the PostScript
533: files gnuplot generates can be found at picard.tamu.edu in /pub/gnuplot/ as
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 534: gs-ps.doc. A general introduction to PostScript can be found at
1.1.1.2 maekawa 535: unix.hensa.ac.uk in /pub/misc/ukc.reports/comp.sci/reports/ as 11-92.ps.Z.
536:
537: 3.6 How do I generate plots in the GIF format?
1.1 maekawa 538:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 539: If gnuplot was compiled with the external GD library, there is a gif terminal.
1.1 maekawa 540:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 541: As of version 1.6, gd library dropped support for gif in favour of the superior
! 542: png format. For those who absolutely need gif support in gnuplot, we are
! 543: providing older versions of gd library at the gnuplot distribution sites which
! 544: are free of Unisys patented code. Please read also the file README a the
! 545: ftp-sites.
1.1 maekawa 546:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 547: 3.7 Can I animate my graphs?
1.1 maekawa 548:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 549: First have a look at animate.dem in the demo directory of gnuplot. Basically,
! 550: animated graphs are a sequence of plots in a suitable format.
1.1 maekawa 551:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 552: Then have a look at the tool whirlgif 3.04, available at http://www.danbbs.dk/
! 553: dino/whirlgif. It reads run-length encoded gifs and packs them into a minimal
! 554: animation. On the web-pages you will find a manual and an example.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 555:
556: You can also write a small script to get gnuplot to output a family of GIF
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 557: files, then have it execute some animator such as gifsicle: http://http://
! 558: www.lcdf.org/ eddietwo/gifsicle or gifmerge http://http://the-labs.com/GIFMerge
1.1.1.2 maekawa 559:
560: mpeg_encode will encode a sequence of images into the mpeg-format.
561:
562: 3.8 How do I plot implicit defined graphs?
563:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 564: Implicit graphs or curves cannot be plotted directly in gnuplot. However there
! 565: is a workaround.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 566: gnuplot> # as example. Place your definition in the following line
567: gnuplot> f(x,y) = y - x**2 / tan(y)
568: gnuplot> set contour base
569: gnuplot> set cntrparam levels discrete 0.0
570: gnuplot> set nosurface
571: gnuplot> set term table
572: gnuplot> set out 'curve.dat'
573: gnuplot> splot f(x,y)
574: gnuplot> set out
575: gnuplot> set term {your usual terminal for interactive work}
576: gnuplot> plot 'curve.dat' w l
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 577: The trick is to draw the single contour line z=0 of the surface z=f(x,y), and
! 578: store the resulting contour curve to a gnuplot datafile.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 579:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 580: 4 Wanted features
1.1.1.2 maekawa 581:
582: 4.1 What's new in gnuplot 3.7?
583:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 584: Too many things to be named here. Please refer to the NEWS file in the source
! 585: distribution.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 586:
587: 4.2 Does gnuplot have hidden line removal?
588:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 589: Version 3.7 supports hidden line removal on all platforms; use the command set
! 590: hidden3d.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 591:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 592: The 16-bit binaries of gnuplot support the hidden line removal only partially
! 593: as the hidden-line algorithm may hit the 640k memory limit.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 594:
595: 4.3 Does gnuplot support bar-charts/histograms/boxes?
596:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 597: Use the style "with boxes" for bar charts. To get filled boxes, you can try a
! 598: modification by Steve Cumming and jturk, available via ftp from the contrib
! 599: directory ftp.ucc.ie in /pub/gnuplot/contrib/gpl37fboxpatch.tar.gz.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 600:
601: Bernhard Reiter wrote an AWK script to post-process the fig-terminal output.
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 602: Please have a look at http://www.usf.uni-osnabrueck.de/ breiter/tools/gnuplot/
! 603: barcharts.en.html.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 604:
605: 4.4 Does gnuplot support pie charts?
606:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 607: It's not possible in gnuplot, but have a look at http://
! 608: www.usf.uni-osnabrueck.de/ breiter/tools/piechart/piecharts.en.html
1.1.1.2 maekawa 609:
610: 4.5 Does gnuplot quarterly time charts?
611:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 612: It's not possible in gnuplot, but have a look at http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/
! 613: cottrell/qplot. The corresponding file qplot.zip can be obtained from the
! 614: contrib directory on any gnuplot server.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 615:
616: 4.6 Does gnuplot support multiple y-axes on a single plot?
617:
618: Yes. You can have 2 x- and 2 y-axes per plot. See "plot".
619:
620: 4.7 Can I put multiple pages on one page?
621:
622: Yes. "set multiplot"
623:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 624: If you use the postscript terminal and plot one graph per page you can use the
! 625: program mpage (http://www.mesa.nl/pub/mpage) to print multiple logical pages
! 626: per physical page. A similar program is the psnup program in the psutils
! 627: package. This package is available at any CTAN mirror.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 628:
629: 4.8 Can I put both data files and commands into a single file?
630:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 631: This is possible by the new plot "-" possibility. The plot "-" command allows
! 632: to read the data to be plot from standard input or the current batch job.
! 633:
! 634: gnuplot> plot "-"
! 635: 1 1
! 636: 2 4
! 637: 3 9
! 638: <CTRL-D>
1.1.1.2 maekawa 639:
640: 4.9 Can I put Greek letters and super/subscripts into my labels?
641:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 642: You might try using the LATEX terminal type and putting text like "\\alpha_{3}"
! 643: or '\alpha_{3}' into it.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 644:
645: The enhanced option in the postscript terminal is also able to use sub- and
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 646: superscripts. It also allows to use Greek letters and symbols via symbol fonts.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 647:
648: If you include your gnuplot-graphs into a LATEX document you can use the
649: LATEX-package psfrag to typeset any characters into your graphs.
650:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 651: One more possibility is to use the MetaPost terminal. It supports TEX syntax
! 652: and is converted onto encapsulated PostScript by mpost.
! 653:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 654: 4.10 Can I do 1:1 scaling of axes?
655:
656: Use "set size square".
657:
658: 4.11 Can I put tic marks for x and y axes into 3d plots?
659:
660: Use the "with boxes" option.
661:
662: 4.12 Does gnuplot support a driver for <graphics format>?
663:
664: To see a list of the available graphic drivers for your installation of
665: gnuplot, type "set term".
666:
667: Some graphics drivers are included in the normal distribution, but are
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 668: uncommented by default. If you want to use them, you'll have to change gnuplot/
! 669: term.h, and recompile.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 670:
671: 4.13 Can I put different text sizes into my plots?
672:
673: Some terminals, like the postscript terminal can, others can't. Look at the
674: help for the different terminals.
675:
676: 4.14 How do I modify gnuplot, and apply 'patches'?
677:
678: For this, you will need to recompile gnuplot.
679:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 680: Modifications people make are either done by replacing files, such as terminal
! 681: drivers, or by 'patching'. If a file is a replacement, it will probably tell
! 682: you in its README or in the lines at the beginning.
! 683:
! 684: To patch a file, you need Larry Wall's patch utility. On many UNIX systems, it
! 685: is already installed; do a man patch to check. If it isn't, you'll have to get
! 686: it; it can be found wherever GNU software is archived.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 687:
688: 4.15 How do I skip data points?
689:
690: By specifying ? as a data value, as in
1.1 maekawa 691: 1 2
692: 2 3
693: 3 ?
694: 4 5
695:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 696: 4.16 How do I plot every nth point?
1.1 maekawa 697:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 698: This can be specified with the various options for the command "plot".
1.1 maekawa 699:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 700: 4.17 How do I plot a vertical line?
1.1 maekawa 701:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 702: Depending on context, the main methods are:
703:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 704: * set arrow .... .... nohead where you have to compute explicitly the start
! 705: and the end of the arrow.
! 706: * generate (inlined) datapoints and plot them
! 707: * switch to parametric mode
1.1.1.2 maekawa 708:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 709: 4.18 How do I plot data files
! 710:
! 711: 4.19 How do I include accentuated characters in Postscript output?
! 712:
! 713: To obtain accentuated characters like ü or n into postscript plots you should
! 714: use the postscript character codes together with the appropriate encoding
! 715: option. See the following example:
! 716:
! 717: gnuplot> set encoding iso_8859_1
! 718: gnuplot> set title "M\374nchner Bierverbrauch \374ber die Jahre"
! 719: gnuplot> plot "bier.dat" u 1:2
! 720:
! 721: 5 Miscellaneous
1.1.1.2 maekawa 722:
723: 5.1 I've found a bug, what do I do?
724:
725: First, try to see whether it actually is a bug, or whether it is a feature
726: which may be turned off by some obscure set-command.
727:
728: Next, see whether you have an old version of gnuplot; if you do, chances are
729: the bug has been fixed in a newer release.
730:
731: Fixes for bugs reported since the release of the current version are held in
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 732: the patches directory at gnuplot distribution sites. Before submitting a bug
1.1.1.2 maekawa 733: report, please check whether the bug in question has already been fixed.
734:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 735: If, after checking these things, you still are convinced that there is a bug,
! 736: proceed as follows. If you have a fairly general sort of bug report, posting
! 737: to ~comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot is probably the way to go. If you have
! 738: investigated a problem in detail, especially if you have a context or unified
! 739: diff that fixes the problem, please e-email a report to
! 740: bug-gnuplot@dartmouth.edu.
! 741:
! 742: The bug-gnuplot list is for reporting and collecting bug fixes, the ~
! 743: comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot newsgroup will be more help for finding work arounds
! 744: or actually solving gnuplot related problems. If you do send in a bug report,
! 745: be sure and include the version of gnuplot (including patchlevel) as shown by
! 746: the command "show version long", terminal driver, operating system, an exact
! 747: description of the bug and input which can reproduce the bug. Failure to
! 748: indicate these details can render a solution to your problem almost impossible.
! 749: Also, any context diffs should be referenced against the latest official
! 750: version of gnuplot if at all possible.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 751:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 752: 5.2 Can I use gnuplot routines for my own programs?
1.1.1.2 maekawa 753:
754: Yes. John Campbell jdc@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu has written gplotlib, a version of
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 755: gnuplot as C subroutines callable from a C program. This is available as
! 756: gplotlib.tar.gz at ftp.nau.edu in /pub/gplotlib.tar.gz. This library has been
1.1.1.2 maekawa 757: updated to be compatible with version 3.5.
758:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 759: On systems supporting the pipes, you can pipe commands to gnuplot from other
1.1.1.2 maekawa 760: programs.
761:
762: 5.3 What extensions have people made to gnuplot? Where can I get them?
763:
764: Extensions are available from ftp.ucc.ie in /pub/gnuplot/contrib/
1.1 maekawa 765:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 766: Some extensions available:
1.1 maekawa 767:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 768: * barchart_via_fig: awk scripts to produce barcharts with filled boxes.
! 769: * date-errorbar: allows dates in the hi/lo fields for errorbars.
! 770: * gp37os2-mouse: OS/2 binaries with mouse support (feature included in
! 771: current beta versions).
! 772: * perltk: A perl/tk canvas widget.
! 773: * polyg.patch: Implements a polygon plotting style.
! 774: * xgfe: graphical front end using the Qt widgets available at http://
! 775: lnc.usc.edu/docs/xgfe/xgfe.html.
! 776: * Gnuplot.py: A python package to create graphs from within python. More
! 777: information at http://monsoon.harvard.edu/ mhagger/Gnuplot/Gnuplot.html.
! 778:
! 779: 5.4 I need an integration, fft, iir-filter,....!
! 780:
! 781: Gnuplot has been and is a plotting program, no data processing or mathematical
! 782: program suite. Therefore gnuplot can't do that. Look into the demo
! 783: "bivariat.dem" for a basic implementation of an integration.
1.1 maekawa 784:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 785: For more sophisticated data-processing read the next section.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 786:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 787: 5.5 Can I do heavy-duty data processing with gnuplot? or What is beyond
! 788: gnuplot?
! 789:
! 790: gnuplot alone is not suited very well for this. One thing you might try is
1.1.1.2 maekawa 791: fudgit, an interactive multi-purpose fitting program written by Martin-D.
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 792: Lacasse (isaac@frodo.physics.mcgill.ca). It can use gnuplot as its graphics
! 793: back end and is available from ftp.physics.mcgill.ca in /pub/Fudgit/
! 794: fudgit_2.33.tar.Z and from the main Linux server, tsx-11.mit.edu and its
! 795: numerous mirrors around the world as /pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/
! 796: fudgit-2.33.tar.z. Versions are available for AIX, Data General, HP-UX, IRIX 4,
! 797: Linux, NeXT, Sun3, Sun4, Ultrix, OS/2 and MS-DOS. The MS-DOS version is
! 798: available on simtel20 mirrors (simtel20 itself has closed down) in the "math"
! 799: subdirectory as fudg_231.zip.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 800:
801: Carsten Grammes has written a fitting program which has been merged into
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 802: gnuplot 3.7.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 803:
804: Michael Courtney has written a program called lsqrft, which uses the
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 805: Levenberg-Marquardt - Algorithm for fitting data to a function. It is available
! 806: from hobbes.nmsu.edu in /pub/os2/apps/analysis/lsqrft15.zip; sources, which
! 807: should compile on Unix, and executables for MS-DOS and OS/2 are available.
! 808: There is an interface to the OS/2 presentation manager.
! 809:
! 810: You might also want to look at the applications developed by the Software Tools
! 811: Group (STG) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Ftp to
! 812: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu and get the file README.BROCHURE for more information.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 813:
814: You can also try pgperl, an integration of the PGPLOT plotting package with
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 815: Perl 5. Information can be found at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/AAO/local/www/kgb/
! 816: pgperl, the source is available from ftp.ast.cam.ac.uk in /pub/kgb/pgperl/ or
! 817: linux.nrao.edu in /pub/packages/pgperl/.
! 818:
! 819: Another possibility is Octave. To quote from its README: Octave is a high-level
! 820: language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It provides a
! 821: convenient command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear problems
! 822: numerically. The latest released version of Octave is always available from
! 823: http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/ and via anonymous ftp from bevo.che.wisc.edu in
! 824: /pub/octave. Octave is licensed under GPL (see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
! 825: gpl.html). By the way, octave uses gnuplot as its plotting engine, so you get a
! 826: data-processing program on top of gnuplot.
! 827:
! 828: Finally, there is scilab at http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab/ doing about the
! 829: same as matlab. It is free but copyrighted software.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 830:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 831: 5.6 I have ported gnuplot to another system, or patched it. What do I do?
1.1.1.2 maekawa 832:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 833: If your patch is small, mail it to info-gnuplot-beta@dartmouth.edu, with a
1.1.1.2 maekawa 834: thorough description of what the patch is supposed to do, which version of
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 835: gnuplot it is relative to, etc. Also, you can send notification of the patch to
! 836: the FAQ maintainer, if you want a mention. Please don't send the patch itself
! 837: to me.
! 838:
! 839: If your modifications are extensive (such as a port to another system), place
! 840: them on a web/ftp site for download. There is currently no possibility to
! 841: upload patches. Send a note to info-gnuplot-beta@dartmouth.edu on where to find
! 842: the patch, what it is supposed to do, which version of gnuplot it is to be
! 843: applied against. For the time being (summer 1999) you can also send the patch
! 844: to gnuplot@ftp.ucc.ie.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 845:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 846: 5.7 I want to help in developing the next version of gnuplot. What can I do?
! 847:
! 848: Join the gnuplot beta test mailing list by sending a mail containing the line
! 849: subscribe info-gnuplot-beta in the body (not the subject) of the mail to
! 850: Majordomo@Dartmouth.EDU.
! 851:
! 852: Also check with http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot about latest source for
! 853: beta releases for development.
! 854:
! 855: 5.8 Open questions for inclusion into the FAQ?
! 856:
! 857: info-gnuplot-beta@Dartmouth.EDU.
! 858:
! 859: Please submit your questions (along with the answer) to
! 860: info-gnuplot-beta@Dartmouth.EDU.
! 861:
! 862: 6 Making life easier
1.1.1.2 maekawa 863:
864: 6.1 How do I plot two functions in non-overlapping regions?
865:
866: Use a parametric plot. An example:
867: gnuplot> set parametric
868: gnuplot> a=1
869: gnuplot> b=3
870: gnuplot> c=2
871: gnuplot> d=4
872: gnuplot> x1(t) = a+(b-a)*t
873: gnuplot> x2(t) = c+(d-c)*t
874: gnuplot> f1(x) = sin(x)
875: gnuplot> f2(x) = x**2/8
876: gnuplot> plot [t=0:1] x1(t),f1(x1(t)) title "f1", x2(t), f2(x2(t)) title "f2"
877:
878: You can also use gnuplot's ability to ignore mathematically undefined
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 879: expressions: the expression 1/0 is silently ignored, thus a construction like
1.1.1.2 maekawa 880: gnuplot> set xran [-10:10]
881: gnuplot> plot (abs(x)>0.5?1/0: x**2)
882: plots a quadratic function only for |x| < 0.5.
883:
884: 6.2 How do I run my data through a filter before plotting?
885:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 886: If your system supports the popen() function, as Unix does, you should be able
! 887: to run the output through another process, for example a short awk program,
! 888: such as
1.1.1.2 maekawa 889:
890: gnuplot> plot "< awk ' { print $1, $3/$2 } ' file.in"
891:
892: The plot command is very powerful and is able to do some arithmetic on
893: datafiles. See "help plot".
894:
895: 6.3 How do I make it easier to use gnuplot with LATEX?
896:
897: There is a set of LATEX macros and shell scripts that are meant to make your
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 898: life easier when using gnuplot with LATEX. This package can be found on
! 899: ftp.dartmouth.edu in pub/gnuplot/latex.shar, by David Kotz. For example, the
! 900: program "plotskel" can turn a gnuplot-output file plot.tex into a skeleton file
! 901: skel.tex, that has the same size as the original plot but contains no graph.
! 902: With the right macros, the skeleton can be used for preliminary LATEX passes,
! 903: reserving the full graph for later passes, saving tremendous amounts of time.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 904:
905: 6.4 How do I save and restore my settings?
906:
907: Use the "save" and "load" commands for this; see "help save" and "help load"
908: for details.
909:
910: 6.5 How do I plot lines (not grids) using splot?
911:
912: If the data in a data file for splot is arranged in such a way that each one
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 913: has the same number of data points (using blank lines as delimiters, as usual),
! 914: splot will plot the data with a grid. If you want to plot just lines, use a
! 915: different number of data entries (you can do this by doubling the last data
! 916: point, for example). Don't forget to set parametric mode, of course.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 917:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 918: 6.6 How do I plot a function f(x,y) which is bounded by other functions in the
! 919: x-y plain?
1.1.1.2 maekawa 920:
921: An example:
922: gnuplot> f(x,y) = x**2 + y **2
923: gnuplot> x(u) = 3*u
924: gnuplot> yu(x) = x**2
925: gnuplot> yl(x) = -x**2
926: gnuplot> set parametric
927: gnuplot> set cont
928: gnuplot> splot [0:1] [0:1] u,yl(x(u))+(yu(x(u)) - yl(x(u)))*v,\
929: > f(x(u), (yu(x(u)) - yl(x(u)))*v)
930:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 931: 6.7 How do I get rid of <feature> in a plot?
1.1.1.2 maekawa 932:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 933: Usually, there is a set command to do this; do a gnuplot> ?set no for a short
! 934: overview.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 935:
936: 6.8 How do I call gnuplot from my own programs?
937:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 938: There's a code which works for a UNIX system, using (efficient) named pipes. On
! 939: M$ Windows platforms, due to the lacking standard input of GUI programs, you
! 940: need to use the C-code pgnuplot written by Hans-Bernhard Broeker
! 941: broeker@physik.rwth-aachen.de. You can obtain this file on a ftp-server
1.1.1.2 maekawa 942: carrying the source for gnuplot.
943:
944: 6.9 What if I need h-bar (Planck's constant)?
945:
946: There is no predefined variable like pi. However to put h-bar as a character
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 947: into the label, you must use the PostScript terminal. You can play around with
! 948: constructs like @{/=56 -} {/=24 h} or {/=8 @{/Symbol=24 -} _{/=14 h}} In the
! 949: latter, the "-" (a long one in /Symbol) is non-spacing and 24-pt. The 14-pt "h"
! 950: is offset by an 8-pt space (which is the space preceding the "_") but smaller,
! 951: since it's written as a subscript. But these don't look too much like the hbar
! 952: we're used to, since the bar is horizontal instead of sloped. I don't see a way
! 953: to get that. I tried using an accent (
! 954: 264 in isoLatin encoding), but I haven't found a way to scale and position the
! 955: pieces correctly.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 956:
957: One more possibility would be {/=14 @^{/Symbol=10 -}{/=14 h}}.
958:
959: (This is a hint by Richard Crawford).
960:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 961: 7 Known Problems
1.1.1.2 maekawa 962:
963: 7.1 Gnuplot is not plotting any points under X11! How come?
964:
965: On VMS, you need to make several symbols:
1.1 maekawa 966:
967: $ gnuplot_x11 :== $disk:[directory]gnuplot_x11
968: $ gnuplot :== $disk:[directory]gnuplot.exe
969: $ def/job GNUPLOT$HELP disk:[directory]gnuplot.hlb
970:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 971: Then run gnuplot from your command line, and use "set term x11".
1.1 maekawa 972:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 973: If you run gnuplot on Unix systems, be sure that the newest gnuplot_x11 is the
! 974: first in your search path.
! 975:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 976: 7.2 My isoline data generated by a Fortran program is not handled correctly.
977: What can I do?
1.1 maekawa 978:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 979: Update to the newest gnuplot. Gnuplot 3.7 is able to read Fortran-style files
! 980: where a blank line can contain more than a linefeed.
1.1 maekawa 981:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 982: 7.3 Why does gnuplot ignore my very small numbers?
1.1 maekawa 983:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 984: Gnuplot treats all numbers less than 1e-08 as zero, by default. Thus, if you
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 985: are trying to plot a collection of very small numbers, they may be plotted as
! 986: zero. Worse, if you're plotting on a log scale, they will be off scale. Or, if
! 987: the whole set of numbers is "zero", your range may be considered empty:
1.1 maekawa 988:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 989: gnuplot> plot 'test1'
990: Warning: empty y range [4.047e-19:3e-11], adjusting to [-1:1]
991: gnuplot> set yrange [4e-19:3e-11]
992: gnuplot> plot 'test1'
993: ^
994: y range is less than `zero`
1.1 maekawa 995:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 996: The solution is to change gnuplot's idea of "zero":
997: gnuplot> set zero 1e-20
1.1 maekawa 998:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 999: For more information, "help set zero"
1.1 maekawa 1000:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1001: 7.4 Gnuplot is plotting nothing when run via gnuplot <filename>! What can I do?
1.1 maekawa 1002:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1003: Put a pause -1 after the plot command in the file. On an X-Window System
1004: system, you can also use the -persist option, the X11 window is then not
1005: closed. Close the X11 window by typing "q" when the focus is on it.
1.1 maekawa 1006:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1007: 7.5 My formulas are giving me nonsense results! What's going on?
1.1 maekawa 1008:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1009: Gnuplot does integer, and not floating point, arithmetic on integer
1010: expressions. For example, the expression 1/3 evaluates to zero. If you want
1011: floating point expressions, supply trailing dots for your floating point
1012: numbers. Example:
1.1 maekawa 1013:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1014: gnuplot> print 1/3
1.1 maekawa 1015: 0
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1016: gnuplot> print 1./3.
1.1 maekawa 1017: 0.333333
1018:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1019: This way of evaluating integer expressions is shared by both C and Fortran.
1020:
1021: 7.6 Set output 'filename' isn't outputting everything it should!
1022:
1023: You need to flush the output with a closing 'set output'.
1024:
1025: 7.7 When using the LATEX-terminal, there is an error during the LATEX-run!
1026:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1027: Please upgrade to gnuplot 3.7. Some versions of its beta-release had a problem
! 1028: in the LATEX-terminal.
! 1029:
! 1030: The LATEX2$\epsilon$ -core does no longer include the commands "
! 1031: Diamond" and "
! 1032: Box"; they are included in the latexsym package, which is part of the base
! 1033: distribution and thus part of any LaTeX implementation. Please do not forget to
! 1034: use this package.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1035:
1036: 7.8 The exit command does not work as documented!
1037:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1038: This is a known bug and is fixed in the latest release. If you need the feature
! 1039: please upgrade to the latest release.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1040:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1041: 7.9 I can't find the demos and example files at the URLs in the documentation!
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1042:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1043: The examples have been removed from the NASA site. You can find the examples
! 1044: now at http://www.gnuplot.vt.edu/gnuplot/gpdocs. There you will find both PNG
! 1045: and GIF versions of the demo plots. There are some licensing problems with GIF
! 1046: images, so you should probably prefer the PNG ones. They also have the
! 1047: advantage to be much smaller in size.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1048:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1049: 7.10 Calling gnuplot in a pipe or with a gnuplot-script doesn't produce a plot!
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1050:
1051: You can call gnuplot by using a short Perl-script like the following:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1052: #!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
! 1053: open (GP, "|/usr/local/bin/gnuplot -persist") or die "no gnuplot";
! 1054: # force buffer to flush after each write
! 1055: use FileHandle;
! 1056: GP->autoflush(1);
! 1057: print GP,"set term x11;plot '/tmp/data.dat' with lines\n";
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1058: close GP
1059:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1060: Gnuplot closes its plot window on exit. The close GP command is executed, and
! 1061: the plot window is closed even before you have a chance to look at it.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1062:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1063: There are three solutions to this: first, use the pause -1 command in gnuplot
! 1064: before closing the pipe. Second, close the pipe only if you are sure that you
! 1065: don't need gnuplot and its plot window anymore. Last, you can use the command
! 1066: line option -persist: this option leaves the X-Window System plot window open.
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1067:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1068: 8 Credits
1.1 maekawa 1069:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1070: Gnuplot 3.7's main contributors are (in alphabetical order) Hans-Bernhard
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1071: Broeker, John Campbell, Robert Cunningham, David Denholm, Gershon Elber, Roger
! 1072: Fearick, Carsten Grammes, Lucas Hart, Lars Hecking, Thomas Koenig, David Kotz,
! 1073: Ed Kubaitis, Russell Lang, Alexander Lehmann, Alexander Mai, Carsten Steger,
! 1074: Tom Tkacik, Jos Van der Woude, James R. Van Zandt, and Alex Woo.
1.1 maekawa 1075:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1076: This list was initially compiled by John Fletcher with contributions from
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1077: Russell Lang, John Campbell, David Kotz, Rob Cunningham, Daniel Lewart and Alex
! 1078: Woo. Reworked by Thomas Koenig from a draft by Alex Woo, with corrections and
! 1079: additions from Alex Woo, John Campbell, Russell Lang, David Kotz and many
! 1080: corrections from Daniel Lewart. Again reworked for gnuplot 3.7 by Alexander Mai
! 1081: and Juergen v.Hagen with corrections by Lars Hecking, Hans-Bernhard Broecker
! 1082: and other people.
1.1 maekawa 1083:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1084: About this document ...
1.1 maekawa 1085:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1086: Gnuplot FAQ
1.1 maekawa 1087:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1088: This document was generated using the LaTeX2HTML translator Version 2002-2-1
! 1089: (1.70)
1.1 maekawa 1090:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1091: Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, Nikos Drakos, Computer Based Learning Unit,
! 1092: University of Leeds.
! 1093: Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, Ross Moore, Mathematics Department, Macquarie
! 1094: University, Sydney.
1.1 maekawa 1095:
1.1.1.2 maekawa 1096: The command line arguments were:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1097: latex2html -split 0 -show_section_numbers -html_version 4.0 -nonavigation
! 1098: faq.tex
! 1099:
! 1100: The translation was initiated by Lars Hecking on 2002-12-10
! 1101: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 maekawa 1102:
1.1.1.3 ! ohara 1103: Lars Hecking 2002-12-10
FreeBSD-CVSweb <freebsd-cvsweb@FreeBSD.org>
![[BACK]](/icons/cvsweb/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to 0FAQ CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/cvsweb/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/cvsweb/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [local] / OpenXM_contrib / gnuplot