Provided by: xgraph_12.1-17_amd64 
NAME
xgraph - Draw a graph on an X11 Display
SYNOPSIS
xgraph [ options ] [[-geometry |=]WxH+X+Y ] [ -display host:display.screen ] [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
The xgraph program draws a graph on an X display given data read from either data files or from standard
input if no files are specified. It can display up to 64 independent data sets using different colors
and/or line styles for each set. It annotates the graph with a title, axis labels, grid lines or tick
marks, grid labels, and a legend. There are options to control the appearance of most components of the
graph.
The input format is similar to graph(1G) but differs slightly. The data consists of a number of data
sets. Data sets are separated by a blank line. A new data set is also assumed at the start of each
input file. A data set consists of an ordered list of points of the form "{directive} X Y". The
directive is either "draw" or "move" and can be omitted. If the directive is "draw", a line will be
drawn between the previous point and the current point (if a line graph is chosen). Specifying a "move"
directive tells xgraph not to draw a line between the points. If the directive is omitted, "draw" is
assumed for all points in a data set except the first point where "move" is assumed. The "move"
directive is used most often to allow discontinuous data in a data set. The name of a data set can be
specified by enclosing the name in double quotes on a line by itself in the body of the data set. The
trailing double quote is optional. Overall graphing options for the graph can be specified in data files
by writing lines of the form "<option>: <value>". The option names are the same as those used for
specifying X resources (see below). The option and value must be separated by at least one space. An
example input file with three data sets is shown below. Note that set three is not named, set two has
discontinuous data, and the title of the graph is specified near the top of the file.
TitleText: Sample Data
0.5 7.8
1.0 6.2
"set one
1.5 8.9
"set two"
-3.4 1.4e-3
-2.0 1.9e-2
move -1.0 2.0e-2
-0.65 2.2e-4
2.2 12.8
2.4 -3.3
2.6 -32.2
2.8 -10.3
After xgraph has read the data, it will create a new window to graphically display the data. The
interface used to specify the size and location of this window depends on the window manager currently in
use. Refer to the reference manual of the window manager for details.
Once the window has been opened, all of the data sets will be displayed graphically (subject to the
options explained below) with a legend in the upper right corner of the screen. To zoom in on a portion
of the graph, depress a mouse button in the window and sweep out a region. xgraph will then open a new
window looking at just that portion of the graph. xgraph also presents three control buttons in the
upper left corner of each window: Close, Hardcopy, and About. Windows are closed by depressing a mouse
button while the mouse cursor is inside the Close button. Typing EOF (control-D) in a window also closes
that window. Depressing a mouse button while the mouse cursor is in the Hardcopy button causes a dialog
to appear asking about hard copy (printout) options. These options are described below:
Output Device
Specifies the type of the output device (e.g. "HPGL", "Postscript", etc). An output device is
chosen by depressing the mouse inside its name. The default values of other fields will change
when you select a different output device.
Disposition
Specifies whether the output should go directly to a device or to a file. Again, the default
values of other fields will change when you select a different disposition.
File or Device Name
If the disposition is "To Device", this field specifies the device name. A device name is the
same as the name given for the -P command of lpr(1). If the disposition is "To File", this field
specifies the name of the output file.
Maximum Dimension
This specifies the maximum size of the plot on the hard copy device in centimeters. xgraph takes
in account the aspect ratio of the plot on the screen and will scale the plot so that the longer
side of the plot is no more than the value of this parameter. If the device supports it, the
plot may also be rotated on the page based on the value of the maximum dimension.
Include in Document
If selected, this option causes xgraph to produce hard copy output that is suitable for inclusion
in other larger documents. As an example, when this option is selected the Postscript output
produced by xgraph will have a bounding box suitable for use with psfig.
Title Font Family
This field specifies the name of a font to use when drawing the graph title. Suitable defaults
are initially chosen for any given hard copy device. The value of this field is hardware specific
-- refer to the device reference manual for details.
Title Font Size
This field specifies the desired size of the title fonts in points (1/72 of an inch). If the
device supports scalable fonts, the font will be scaled to this size.
Axis Font Family and Axis Font Size
These fields are like Title Font Family and Title Font Size except they specify values for the
font xgraph uses to draw axis labels, and legend descriptions.
Control Buttons
After specifying the parameters for the plot, the "Ok" button causes xgraph to produce a hard
copy. Pressing the "Cancel" button will abort the hard copy operation. Depressing the About
button causes Xgraph to display a window containing the version of the program and an electronic
mailing address for the author for comments and suggestions.
xgraph accepts a large number of options most of which can be specified either on the command line, in
the user's .Xdefaults or .Xresources file, or in the data files themselves. A list of these options is
given below. The command line option is specified first with its X default or data file name (if any) in
parenthesis afterward. The format of the option in the X defaults file is "program.option: value" where
program is the program name (xgraph) and the option name is the one specified below. Option
specifications in the data file are similar to the X defaults file specification except the program name
is omitted.
-geometry WxH+X+Y or =WxH+X+Y (Geometry)
Specifies the initial size and location of the xgraph window.
-<digit> <name>
These options specify the data set name for the corresponding data set. The digit should be in
the range '0' to '63'. This name will be used in the legend.
-bar (BarGraph)
Specifies that vertical bars should be drawn from the data points to a base point which can be
specified with -brb. Usually, the -nl flag is used with this option. The point itself is
located at the center of the bar.
-bof (BarGraph)
Offset the bars for additional datasets by the specified amount.
-device <name>
Set the output device for xgraph. The default is 'X'; other valid devices are 'ps', 'hpgl',
'idraw' and tgif.
-o <filename> -O <filename>
Set the output file name for postscript, hpgl and idraw devices. Files created with -O can be
used other documents, and files generated with -o can be printed directly.
-P<printername>
Set the printer name for postscript or hpgl devices. This and the -o or -O option are mutually
exclusive.
-stk Stack elements coming from different datasets, instead of plotting them from the same baseline.
Datasets must match exactly.
-fitx Translate and scale the x data from all datasets to fit [0..1]. -fity Translate and scale the y
data from all datasets to fit [0..1].
-scale <factor>
Output scale factor for postscript, hpgl and idraw devices. The default is 1.0, and 0.5 will
generate a 50% reduced plot.
-fmtx <printf-format> -fmty <printf-format>
Use the format specified to generate the legends for the x or y axis.
-bb (BoundBox)
Draw a bounding box around the data region. This is very useful if you prefer to see tick marks
rather than grid lines (see -tk).
-bd <color> (Border)
This specifies the border color of the xgraph window.
-bg <color> (Background)
Background color of the xgraph window.
-brb <base> (BarBase)
This specifies the base for a bar graph. By default, the base is zero.
-brw <width> (BarWidth)
This specifies the width of bars in a bar graph. The amount is specified in the user's units. By
default, a bar one pixel wide is drawn.
-bw <size> (BorderSize)
Border width (in pixels) of the xgraph window.
-db (Debug)
Causes xgraph to run in synchronous mode and prints out the values of all known defaults.
-fg <color> (Foreground)
Foreground color. This color is used to draw all text and the normal grid lines in the window.
-gw (GridSize)
Width, in pixels, of normal grid lines.
-gs (GridStyle)
Line style pattern of normal grid lines.
-lf <fontname> (LabelFont)
Label font. All axis labels and grid labels are drawn using this font. A font name may be
specified exactly (e.g. "9x15" or "-*-courier-bold-r-normal-*-140-*") or in an abbreviated form:
<family>-<size>. The family is the family name (like helvetica) and the size is the font size in
points (like 12). The default for this parameter is "helvetica-12".
-lnx (LogX)
Specifies a logarithmic X axis. Grid labels represent powers of ten.
-lny (LogY)
Specifies a logarithmic Y axis. Grid labels represent powers of ten.
-lw width (LineWidth)
Specifies the width of the data lines in pixels. The default is zero.
-lx <xl,xh> (XLowLimit, XHighLimit)
This option limits the range of the X axis to the specified interval. This (along with -ly) can
be used to "zoom in" on a particularly interesting portion of a larger graph.
-ly <yl,yh> (YLowLimit, YHighLimit)
This option limits the range of the Y axis to the specified interval.
-m (Markers)
Mark each data point with a distinctive marker. There are eight distinctive markers used by
xgraph. These markers are assigned uniquely to each different line style on black and white
machines and varies with each color on color machines.
-M (StyleMarkers)
Similar to -m but markers are assigned uniquely to each eight consecutive data sets (this
corresponds to each different line style on color machines).
-nl (NoLines)
Turn off drawing lines. When used with -m, -M, -p, or -P this can be used to produce scatter
plots. When used with -bar, it can be used to produce standard bar graphs.
-ng (NoLegend)
Turn off drawing Legends. Can be used to increase the drawing area.
-p (PixelMarkers)
Marks each data point with a small marker (pixel sized). This is usually used with the -nl option
for scatter plots.
-P (LargePixels)
Similar to -p but marks each pixel with a large dot.
-rv (ReverseVideo)
Reverse video. On black and white displays, this will invert the foreground and background
colors. The behaviour on color displays is undefined.
-t <string> (TitleText)
Title of the plot. This string is centered at the top of the graph.
-tf <fontname> (TitleFont)
Title font. This is the name of the font to use for the graph title. A font name may be
specified exactly (e.g. "9x15" or "-*-courier-bold-r-normal-*-140-*") or in an abbreviated form:
<family>-<size>. The family is the family name (like helvetica) and the size is the font size in
points (like 12). The default for this parameter is "helvetica-18".
-tk (Ticks)
This option causes xgraph to draw tick marks rather than full grid lines. The -bb option is also
useful when viewing graphs with tick marks only.
-tkax (Tick Axis)
When tick marks are enabled, plot the axes.
-x <unitname> (XUnitText)
This is the unit name for the X axis. Its default is "X".
-y <unitname> (YUnitText)
This is the unit name for the Y axis. Its default is "Y".
-zg <color> (ZeroColor)
This is the color used to draw the zero grid line.
-zw <width> (ZeroWidth)
This is the width of the zero grid line in pixels.
Some options can only be specified in the X defaults file or in the data files. These options are
described below:
<digit>.Color
Specifies the color for a data set. Eight independent colors can be specified. Thus, the digit
should be between '0' and '7'. If there are more than eight data sets, the colors will repeat
but with a new line style (see below).
<digit>.Style
Specifies the line style for a data set. A string of ones and zeros specifies the pattern used
for the line style. Eight independent line styles can be specified. Thus, the digit should be
between '0' and '7'. If there are more than eight data sets, these styles will be reused. On
color workstations, one line style is used for each of eight colors. Thus, 64 unique data sets
can be displayed.
Device The default output form presented in the hard copy dialog (i.e. "Postscript", "HPGL", etc).
Disposition
The default setting of whether output goes directly to a device or to a file. This must be one of
the strings "To File" or "To Device".
FileOrDev
The default file name or device string in the hard copy dialog.
ZeroWidth
Width, in pixels, of the zero grid line.
ZeroStyle
Line style pattern of the zero grid line.
AUTHOR
David Harrison University of California
BUGS
- Zooming in on bar graphs doesn't work right.
- There is no way to produce hard copy without running xgraph interactively.
December, 1989 XGRAPH(1)