Tribblix: manual page: gnuplot.1

GNUPLOT(1) User Commands GNUPLOT(1)

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 and
executes each file 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 zooming, rotation, and
hypertext.

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.

-c scriptname ARG1 ARG2 ..., load script using gnuplot's "call"
mechanism and pass it the remainder of the command line as arguments

-d, --default settings. Do not read from gnuplotrc, ~/.gnuplot, and
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc on entry.

-e "command list" executes the requested commands before loading the
next input file.

-s, --slow wait for slow font initialization rather than continuing
with an error.

-h, --help print summary of usage

-V show current version

X11 OPTIONS
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. These options have no effect on other terminal types.

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, .gnuplot, or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc 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.

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
After loading the other initialization files, Gnuplot will
check if there is a file named gnuplotrc in the gnuplot
subdirectory in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (default ~/.config). The
same restrictions as for .gnuplot apply.

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.