If files are given, gnuplot loads each file with the load command, in the order specified. Gnuplot exits after the last file is processed.
Here are some of its features:
Plots any number of functions, built up of C operators, C library functions, and some things C doesn't have like **, sgn(), etc. Also support for plotting data files, to compare actual data to theoretical curves.
User-defined X and Y ranges (optional auto-ranging), smart axes scaling, smart tic marks.
Labelling of X and Y axes.
User-defined constants and functions.
Support through a generalized graphics driver for AED 512, AED 767, BBN BitGraph, Commodore Amiga, Roland DXY800A, EEPIC, EmTeX, Epson 60dpi printers, Epson LX-800, Fig, HP2623, HP2648, HP75xx, HPGL, HP LaserJet II, Imagen, Iris 4D, Kermit-MS, Kyocera laser printer, LaTeX, NEC CP6 pinwriter, PostScript, QMS QUIC, ReGis (VT125 and VT2xx), SCO Xenix CGI, Selanar, Star color printer, Tandy DMP-130 printer, Tek 401x, Tek 410x, Vectrix 384, VT like tekronix emulator, Unix PC (ATT 3b1 or ATT 7300), unixplot, and X11. The PC version compiled by Microsoft C supports IBM CGA, EGA, VGA, Hercules, ATT 6300, and Corona 325 graphics. The PC version compiled by Turbo C supports IBM CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, Hercules and ATT 6300 graphics. Other devices can be added simply, but will require recompiling.
Shell escapes and command line substitution.
Load and save capability.
Output redirection.
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.
In addition to the X Toolkit options, there are three more command line options. -mono forces monochrome rendering on color displays. -gray requests grayscale rendering on grayscale or color displays. (Grayscale displays receive monochrome rendering by default.) -clear requests that the window be cleared momentarily before a new plot is displayed. These options may also be controlled with resources. For example: gnuplot*gray: on . For color displays gnuplot honors the following resources (shown here with default values):
gnuplot*background: white
gnuplot*textColor: black
gnuplot*borderColor: black
gnuplot*axisColor: black
gnuplot*line1Color: red
gnuplot*line2Color: green
gnuplot*line3Color: blue
gnuplot*line4Color: magenta
gnuplot*line5Color: cyan
gnuplot*line6Color: sienna
gnuplot*line7Color: orange
gnuplot*line8Color: coral
When -gray is selected, gnuplot honors
the following resources for grayscale or color displays (shown here with
default values). Note that the default background is black.
gnuplot*background: black
gnuplot*textGray: white
gnuplot*borderGray: gray50
gnuplot*axisGray: gray50
gnuplot*line1Gray: gray100
gnuplot*line2Gray: gray60
gnuplot*line3Gray: gray80
gnuplot*line4Gray: gray40
gnuplot*line5Gray: gray90
gnuplot*line6Gray: gray50
gnuplot*line7Gray: gray70
gnuplot*line8Gray: gray30
The size or aspect ratio of a plot may be changed by resizing the gnuplot window.
Additions for labelling by Russell Lang, Monash University, Australia.
(rjl@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au)
Further additions by David Kotz, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA
(formerly of Duke University, North Carolina, USA).
(David.Kotz@Dartmouth.edu)
X11 support by Ed Kubaitis, University of Illinois, USA.