Ubuntu Manpage: gnuplot - an interactive plotting program

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.