Everything about Gnuplot in one page University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Engineering Features: case-sensitive commands can be abbreviated strings with double or single quotes command line arguments are gnuplot files command line extensions with backslash command line editing ^B back a char ^F forward a char ^A beginning of line ^E end of line ^H,DEL delete previous character ^D delete current character ^K delete from current position to end of line ^L,^R redraw line ^U delete entire line ^W delete current word ^P move back through history ^N move forward through history # - comment; Comments with line ending in \ (backslash) are continued, character does not take effect within quotes, numbers, or command substitutions data files specified in the command line with quotes - file names beginning with "<" are used as commands to provide output. # is used as a comment within the data file one data point per line, separated by spaces. You can give the data files different formats, by the "using" followed by the format of the data file. environment - Gnuplot understands these values GNUTERM - term type for gnuplot to use (overridden by) .gnuplot GNUHELP - location of gnuplot help file HOME - directory to search for .gnuplot file PAGER - output filter for help messages SHELL - used for shell command expressions - Any mathematical expression in C, Fortran, Pascal or BASIC is valid. Precendence is defined as same in C language. spaces are ignored within expressions. Complex constants -- {x,y} = x + y * i. (required braces) functions - Supports functions from the C math library Function (Arguments) Returns abs(x) (any) absolute value of x abs(x) (complex) length of x acos(x) (any) arccosine in radians arg(x) (complex) the phase of x in radians asin(x) (any) arcsin in radians atan(x) (any) arctangent in radians besj0(x) (radians) j_0 bessel function of x besj1(x) (radians) j_1 bessel function of x besy0(x) (radians) y_0 bessel function of x besy1(x) (radians) y_1 bessel function of x ceil(x) (any) smallest integer not less than real (x) cos(x) (radians) cosine x cosh(x) (radians) hyperbolic cosine x erf(x) (any ) Erf(real(x)), error function of real(x) erfc(x) (any) Erfc(real(x)), 1.0 - error function of real(x) exp(x) (any) exponential function of x floor(x) (any) largest integer not greater than real(x) gamma(x) (any) gamma function of real (x) ibeta(p,q,x) (any) ibeta function of real(p,q,x) igamma(a,x) (any) igamma function of real(a,x) imag(x) (complex) imaginary part of x invnorm(x) (any) inverse normal distribution function of real(x) int(x) (real) real integer part of x lgamma(x) (any) lgamma function of real(x) log(x) (any) natural logarithm of x log10(x) (any) logarithm base 10 of x norm(x) impulses | dots | steps | errorbars linetype,pointtype := integers indicating what type (color) of line and point to use for the plot print prints value of an expression pwd current working directory replot replots last plot, or adds one if one is specified. reread go back to the beginning of the currente AND (integers only) ^ a ^ b - bitwise exclusive OR (integers only) | a | b - bitwise inclusive OR (integers only) && a && b - logical AND (integers only) || a || b - logical OR (integers only) ?: a ? b : c - ternary operator - - a - unary minus ~ ~ a - one's complement (integers only) ! ! a - logical negation (integers only) ! a ! - factorial (integers only, returns real number) Startup environment - .gnuplot file loaded before other files (current dir, home dir) Command substitution - use backquotes, like in a shell User-defined functions/variables variable = constant function(dummy) = expression Commands: Note: The following convention is used in the description of the commands: Curly braces - optional arguments, vertical bar - mutually exclusive options, keywords - bold, tokens - monospaced cd requires quotes clear clears screen, formfeed for hardcopy, needs terminal type exit,quit exit gnuplot, clears output device help {topic} gives a help screen or a series of help screens load "filename" executes the specified files as if they were typed in nested loads are allowed. quotes are required. pause time {"string"} pauses for the predetermi ned interval. -1 waits for return. plot { ranges } { function | {"datafile" { using data-format }}} { title } { style } {, function {title} {style}...} splot { ranges } { function | {"datafile" {index i} { using data-format }}} { title } { style } {, function {title} {style}...} plots 2d,3d functions (or surfaces) and data (see data files) ranges := [n1:n2] | [var=n1:n2] data-format := { ycol | xcol:ycol | xcol:ycol:ydelta | xcol:ycol:ylow:yhigh | } style := with style-type { linetype { pointtype }} style-type := lines | points | linespoints | impulses | dots | steps | errorbars linetype,pointtype := integers indicating what type (color) of line and point to use for the plot print prints value of an expression pwd current working directory replot replots last plot, or adds one if one is specified. reread go back to the beginning of the current input file save saves Gnuplot's environment, including the last plot made. set sets options angles { degrees | radians (default) } arrow {tag} {from x,y{,z}} {to x, y{, z}} {{no}head} noarrow removes arrow (or all) autoscale axes axes := x,y,z or xy noautoscale border makes a border for plots noborder boxwidth sets width of box for box styles clabel turn on contour labels noclabel clip clip-type clip-type := points (omit edge points), one (plot only lines with one endpoint), two (plot lines that pass through visible portion) noclip cntrparam contour parameters { { linear | cubicspline | bspline } | points n | order n | levels { [ auto ] n | discrete z1, z2, ... | incremental {start, incr{, end} } } } contour { base | surface | both } contour drawing nocontour datastyle { style-choice } default plotting style style-choice := lines, points, linespoints, dots, steps, impulses he options settings title sets the title of the plot

Author: Ben Yoshino (ben@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu) Comments, Questions? | E-mail: webmaster@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu Last updated on Thursday, August %.1d, 2002 Copyright © 2001 University of Hawai`i, College of Engineering, Computer Facility All rights reserved.