% Quick Reference Card for gnuplot 2004
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% Copyright (c) 1987 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
% This file is part of GNU Emacs, but was adapted for the gnuplot
% reference card because it was so nicely set up.
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% Author of GNU Emacs Refcard:
% Stephen Gildea
% UUCP: mit-erl!gildea
% Internet: gildea@erl.mit.edu
%
% Thanks to Paul Rubin, Bob Chassell, Len Tower, and Richard Mlynarik
% for their many good ideas.
%
% Person who ripped off the formatter:
% Alex Woo
% NASA Ames Research Center
% Internet: woo@ames.arc.nasa.gov
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% Modified on 9 Dec 1992 by:
% Daniel S. Lewart
% University of Illinois
% Internet: d-lewart@uiuc.edu
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Layout adapted from the \TeX\ source for Stephen Gildea's GNU Emacs
Reference Card (version 1.8).
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
GNU, Versatec, Imagen, Printronix, Canon, GraphOn, Visual, MicroVAX,
UIS, Tektronix, Unix, VAX, VMS, NeWS, SunView, and em4010 are all
trademarks of various companies. We endorse none of them.
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\def\threecol#1#2#3{\hskip\keyindent\relax#1\hfil&\kbd{#2}\quad
&\kbd{#3}\quad\cr}
%**end of header
\title{gnuplot Quick Reference}
\centerline{(Copyright(c) Alex Woo 1992 June 1)}
\centerline{Updated by Hans-Bernhard Br\"o{}ker, April 2004}
\section{Starting gnuplot}
\key{to enter gnuplot}{gnuplot}
\key{to enter batch gnuplot}{gnuplot macro_file}
\key{to pipe commands to gnuplot}{application | gnuplot}
see below for environment variables you might want to change
before entering gnuplot.
\section{Exiting gnuplot}
\key{exit gnuplot}{quit}
All gnuplot commands can be abbreviated to the first few
unique letters, usually three characters. This reference uses
the complete name for clarity.
\section{Getting Help}
\key{introductory help} {help plot}
\key{help on a topic}{help }
\key{list of all help available}{help or ?}
\key{show current environment}{show all}
\section{Command-line Editing}
The UNIX, MS-DOS and VMS versions of gnuplot support command-line
editing and a command history. EMACS style editing is supported.
\beginindentedkeys
Line Editing:
\key{move back a single character}{^ B}
\key{move forward a single character}{^ F}
\key{moves to the beginning of the line}{^ A}
\key{moves to the end of the line}{^ E}
\key{delete the previous character} {^ H and DEL }
\key{deletes the current character} {^ D}
\key{deletes to the end of line}{^ K}
\key{redraws line in case it gets trashed}{ ^ L,^ R}
\key{deletes the entire line}{ ^ U}
\key{deletes the last word}{ ^ W}
\endindentedkeys
\beginindentedkeys
History:
\key{moves back through history}{ ^ P }
\key{moves forward through history}{ ^ N }
\endindentedkeys
The following arrow keys may be used on most PC versions if READLINE
is used.
\beginindentedkeys
IBM PC Arrow Keys:
\key{Left Arrow}{same as ^ B}
\key{Right Arrow}{same as ^ F}
\key{Ctrl Left Arrow}{same as ^ A}
\key{Ctrl Right Arrow}{same as ^ E}
\key{Up Arrow}{same as ^ P}
\key{Down Arrow}{same as ^ N}
\endindentedkeys
\section{Graphics Devices}
All screen graphics devices are specified by names and options. This
information can be read from a startup file (.gnuplot in UNIX). If
you change the graphics device, you must replot with the \kbd{replot}
command or recreate it repeating the \kbd{load} of the script that
created it.
\key{get a list of valid devices }{set terminal [options]}
\beginindentedkeys
Graphics Terminals:
\key{Mac OS X} {set term aqua}
\key{AED 512 Terminal} {set term aed512}
\key{AED 767 Terminal} {set term aed767}
\key{BBN Bitgraph Terminal} {set term bitgraph}
\key{MS-DOS Kermit Tek4010 term - color} {set term kc_tek40xx}
\key{MS-DOS Kermit Tek4010 term - mono} {set term km_tek40xx}
\key{NeXTstep window system} {set term next}
\key{OS/2 Presentation Manager} {set term pm}
\key{REGIS graphics language} {set term regis}
\key{Selanar Tek Terminal} {set term selanar}
\key{SunView window system} {set term sun}
\key{Tektronix 4106, 4107, 4109 \& 420X } {set term tek4OD10x}
\key{Tektronix 4010; most TEK emulators} {set term tek40xx}
\key{VAX UIS window system} {set term VMS}
\key{VT-like tek40xx terminal emulator} {set term vttek}
\key{UNIX plotting (not always supplied)} {set term unixplot}
\key{AT\&T 3b1 or 7300 UNIXPC} {set term unixpc}
\key{MS Windows} {set term windows}
\key{X11 display terminal} {set term x11}
\endindentedkeys
\beginindentedkeys
Turbo C PC Graphics Modes:
\key{Hercules}{set term hercules}
\key{Color Graphics Adaptor}{set term cga}
\key{Monochrome CGA}{set term mcga}
\key{Extended Graphics Adaptor}{set term ega}
\key{VGA} {set term vga}
\key{Monochrome VGA} {set term vgamono}
\key{Super VGA - requires SVGA driver}{set term svga}
\key{AT\&T 6300 Micro}{set term att}
\endindentedkeys
\beginindentedkeys
Hardcopy Devices:
\key{Unknown - not a plotting device} {set term unknown}
\key{Dump ASCII table of X Y [Z] values}{set term table}
\key{printer or glass dumb terminal} {set term dumb}
\key{Roland DXY800A plotter} {set term dxy800a}
Dot Matrix Printers
\key{Epson-style 60-dot per inch printers} {set term epson_60dpi}
\key{Epson LX-800, Star NL-10 }{set term epson_lx800}
\key{NX-1000, PROPRINTER }{set term epson_lx800}
\key{NEC printer CP6, Epson LQ-800 }
{set term nec_cp6 [monochrome color draft]}
\key{Star Color Printer} {set term starc}
\key{Tandy DMP-130 60-dot per inch } {set term tandy_60dpi}
\key{Vectrix 384 \& Tandy color printer} {set term vx384}
Laser Printers
\key{Talaris EXCL language}{set term excl}
\key{Imagen laser printer} {set term imagen}
\key{LN03-Plus in EGM mode} {set term ln03}
\key{PostScript graphics language }
{set term post [mode color `font' size]}
\key{CorelDraw EPS}
{set term corel [mode color `font' size]}
\key{Prescribe - for the Kyocera Laser Printer} {set term prescribe}
\key{Kyocera Laser Printer with Courier font} {set term kyo}
\key{QMS/QUIC Laser (also Talaris 1200 )}{set term qms}
Metafiles
\key{AutoCAD DXF (120x80 default)} {set term dxf}
\key{FIG graphics language: SunView or X }{set term fig}
\key{FIG graphics language: Large Graph}{set term bfig}
\key{Frame Maker MIF 3.0}
{set term mif [pentype curvetype help]}
\key{Portable bitmap} {set term pbm [fontsize color]}
\key{TGIF language} {set term tgif}
HP Devices
\key{HP2623A and maybe others} {set term hp2623A}
\key{HP2648 and HP2647} {set term hp2648}
\key{HP7580, \& probably other HPs (4 pens)} {set term hp7580B}
\key{HP7475 \& lots of others (6 pens)} {set term hpgl}
\key{HP Laserjet series II \& clones} {set term hpljii [75 100 150 300]}
\key{HP DeskJet 500} {set term hpdj [75 100 150 300]}
\key{HP PaintJet \& HP3630 }
{set term hppj [FNT5X9 FNT9X17 FNT13x25]}
\key{HP laserjet III ( HPGL plot vectors)}
{set term pcl5 [mode font fontsize ]}
TeX picture environments
\key{LaTeX picture environment} {set term latex}
\key{EEPIC -- extended LaTeX picture } {set term eepic}
\key{LaTeX picture with emTeX specials} {set term emtex}
\key{PSTricks macros for TeX or LaTeX} {set term pstricks}
\key{TPIC specials for TeX or LaTeX} {set term tpic}
\key{MetaFont font generation input} {set term mf}
Saving and restoring terminal
\key{restore default or pushed terminal} {set term pop}
\key{save (push) current terminal} {set term push}
Commands associated to interactive terminals
\key{change mouse settings} {set mouse}
\key{change hotkey bindings} {bind}
\endindentedkeys
\section{Files}
\key{{\bf plot} a data file}{plot `fspec'}
\key{{\bf load} in a macro file}{load `fspec'}
\key{{\bf save} command buffer to a macro file}{save `fspec'}
\key{{\bf save settings} for later reuse}{save set `fpec'}
\section{PLOT \& SPLOT commands}
{\bf plot} and {\bf splot} are the primary commands
{\bf plot} is used to plot 2-d
functions and data, while {\bf splot} plots 3-d surfaces and data.
Syntax:
plot $\{$ranges$\}$ $ \{$title$\} \{$style$\}$
$\{, \{$title$\} \{$style$\}...\}$
splot $\{$ranges$\} \{$title$\} \{$style$\}$
$\{, \{$title$\} \{$style$\}...\}$
where $$ is either a mathematical expression, the name of a
data file enclosed in quotes, or a pair ({\bf plot}) or triple ({\bf splot})
of mathematical expressions in the case of parametric functions.
User-defined functions and variables may also be defined here.
Examples will be given below.
\section{Plotting Data}
Discrete data contained in a file can displayed by specifying the
name of the data file (enclosed in quotes) on the {\bf plot} or {\bf splot}
command line. Data files should contain one data point per line.
Lines beginning with \# (or ! on VMS) will be treated as comments
and ignored. For {\bf plot}s, each data point represents an (x,y)
pair. For {\bf splot}s, each point is an (x,y,z) triple. For {\bf plot}s with
error bars (see {\bf plot errorbars}), each data point is either
(x,y,ydelta), (x,y,ylow,yhigh), (x,y,xlow,xhigh), (x,y,xdelta,ydelta), or
(x,y,xlow,xhigh,ylow,yhigh). In all cases, the numbers on each
line of a data file must be separated by blank space. This blank
space divides each line into columns.
For {\bf plot}s the x value may be omitted, and for {\bf splot}s the x
and y values may be omitted. In either case the omitted values are
assigned the current coordinate number. Coordinate numbers start at 0
and are incremented for each data point read.
\section{Surface Plotting}
Implicitly, there are two types of 3-d datafiles. If all the isolines
are of the same length, the data is assumed to be a grid data, i.e.,
the data has a grid topology. Cross isolines in the other parametric
direction (the ith cross isoline passes thru the ith point of all the
provided isolines) will also be drawn for grid data. (Note contouring
is available for grid data only.) If all the isolines are not of the
same length, no cross isolines will be drawn and contouring that data
is impossible.
\section{Using Pipes}
On some computer systems with a popen function (Unix, plus some
others), the datafile can be piped through a shell command by starting
the file name with a '$