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comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot FAQ (Frequent Answered Questions)

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Archive-name: graphics/gnuplot-faq
Version: Mon Sep 23 04:23:01 CES 1996
Posting-frequency: every 14 days
URL: http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ig25/gnuplot-faq/

   comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot

        comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot FAQ (Frequent Answered Questions)

   This is the FAQ (Frequently Answered Questions) list of the
   comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot newsgroup, which discusses the gnuplot
   program for plotting 2D - and 3D - graphs.

   Most of the information in this document came from public discussion
   on comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot; quotations are believed to be in the
   public domain.

   If you are reading this via WWW, and you can't access the individual
   pages, please select here, then try again.

   Here's a list of the questions. If you are looking for the answer for
   a specific question, look for the string Qx.x: at the beginning of a
   line, with x.x being the question number. Sections in this FAQ are
     * 0. Meta-Questions
     * 1. General Information
     * 2. Setting it up
     * 3. Working with it
     * 4. Wanted features
     * 5. Miscellaneous
     * 6. Making life easier
     * 7. Known problems
     * 8. Credits


Questions:

  Section 0: Meta - Questions

     * Q0.1: Where do I get this document?
     * Q0.2: Where do I send comments about this document?

  Section 1: General Information

     * Q1.1: What is gnuplot?
     * Q1.2: How did it come about and why is it called gnuplot?
     * Q1.3: Does gnuplot have anything to do with the FSF and the
       GNU project?
     * Q1.4: What does gnuplot offer?
     * Q1.5: Is gnuplot suitable for batch processing?
     * Q1.6: Can I run gnuplot on my computer?

  Section 2: Setting it up

     * Q2.1: What is the current version of gnuplot?
     * Q2.2: Where can I get gnuplot?
     * Q2.3: How do I get gnuplot to compile on my system?
     * Q2.4: What documentation is there, and how do I get it?

  Section 3: Working with it

     * Q3.1: How do I get help?
     * Q3.2: How do I print out my graphs?
     * Q3.3: How do I include my graphs in ?
     * Q3.4: How do I post-process a gnuplot graph?
     * Q3.5: How do I change symbol size, line thickness and the
       like?
     * Q3.6: How do I generate plots in GIF format?

  Section 4: Wanted features

     * Q4.0: What's new in gnuplot 3.6?
     * Q4.1: Does gnuplot have hidden line removal?
     * Q4.2: Does gnuplot support bar-charts/histograms/boxes?
     * Q4.3: Does gnuplot support multiple y-axes on a single plot?
     * Q4.4: Can I put multiple plots on a single page?
     * Q4.5: Can I put both data files and commands into a single
       file?
     * Q4.6: Can I put Greek letters and super/subscripts into my
       labels?
     * Q4.7 Can I do 1:1 scaling of axes?
     * Q4.8: Can I put tic marks for x and y axes into 3d plots?
     * Q4.9: Does gnuplot support a driver for ?
     * Q4.10: Can I put different text sizes into my plots?
     * Q4.11: How do I modify gnuplot?
     * Q4.12: How do I skip data points?

  Section 5: Miscellaneous

     * Q5.1: I've found a bug, what do I do?
     * Q5.2: Can I use gnuplot routines for my own programs?
     * Q5.3: What extensions have people made to gnuplot? Where can I
       get them?
     * Q5.4: Can I do heavy-duty data processing with gnuplot?
     * Q5.5: I have ported gnuplot to another system, or patched it.
       What do I do?
     * Q5.6: I want to help in developing gnuplot 3.6. What can I do?

  Section 6: Making life easier

     * Q6.1: How do I plot two functions in non-overlapping regions?
     * Q6.2: How do I run my data through a filter before plotting?
     * Q6.3: How do I make it easier to use gnuplot with LaTeX?
     * Q6.4: How do I save and restore my settings?
     * Q6.5: How do I plot lines (not grids) using splot?
     * Q6.6: How do I plot a function f(x,y) which is bounded by
       other functions in the x-y plain?
     * Q6.7: How do I get rid of ?
     * Q6.8: How do I call gnuplot from my own programs ?

  Section 7: Known Problems

     * Q7.1: Gnuplot is not plotting any points under X11! How come?
     * Q7.2: My isoline data generated by a Fortran program is not
       handled correctly. What can I do?
     * Q7.3: Why does gnuplot ignore my very small numbers?
     * Q7.4: Gnuplot is plotting nothing when run via gnuplot
       ! What can I do?
     * Q7.5: My formulas are giving me nonsense results! What's going
       on?
     * Q7.6: My Linux gnuplot complains about a missing gnuplot_x11.
       What is wrong?
     * Q7.7: set output 'filename' isn't outputting everything it
       should!

  Section 8: Credits

  Section 0: Meta-Questions.

   Q0.1: Where do I get this document?
          This document is posted about once every two weeks to the
          newsgroups comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot, comp.answers and
          news.answers. Like many other FAQ's, its newest (plaintext)
          version is available via anonymous ftp from
          ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/graphics/gnuplot
          -faq.

          If you have access to the WWW, you can get the newest version
          of this document from
          http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ig25/gnuplot-faq/

   Q0.2: Where do I send comments about this document?
          Send comments, suggestions etc. via e-mail to Thomas
          Koenig, Thomas.Koenig@ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de or
          ig25@dkauni2.bitnet.


  Section 1: General Information

   Q1.1: What is gnuplot?
          Gnuplot is a command-driven interactive function plotting
          program. It can be used to plot functions and data points in
          both two- and three- dimensional plots in many different
          formats, and will accommodate many of the needs of today's
          scientists for graphic data representation. Gnuplot is
          copyrighted, but freely distributable; you don't have to pay
          for it.

   Q1.2: How did it come about and why is it called gnuplot?
          The authors of gnuplot are:

          Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley, Russell Lang, Dave Kotz, John
          Campbell, Gershon Elber, Alexander Woo and many others.

          The following quote comes from Thomas Williams:

     I was taking a differential equation class and Colin was taking
     Electromagnetics, we both thought it'd be helpful to visualize the
     mathematics behind them. We were both working as sys admin for an
     EE VLSI lab, so we had the graphics terminals and the time to do
     some coding. The posting was better received than we expected, and
     prompted us to add some, albeit lame, support for file data.

     Any reference to GNUplot is incorrect. The real name of the program
     is "gnuplot". You see people use "Gnuplot" quite a bit because many
     of us have an aversion to starting a sentence with a lower case
     letter, even in the case of proper nouns and titles. Gnuplot is not
     related to the GNU project or the FSF in any but the most
     peripheral sense. Our software was designed completely
     independently and the name "gnuplot" was actually a compromise. I
     wanted to call it "llamaplot" and Colin wanted to call it "nplot."
     We agreed that "newplot" was acceptable but, we then discovered
     that there was an absolutely ghastly pascal program of that name
     that the Computer Science Dept. occasionally used. I decided that
     "gnuplot" would make a nice pun and after a fashion Colin agreed.

   Q1.3: Does gnuplot have anything to do with the FSF and the GNU
          project?
          Gnuplot is neither written nor maintained by the FSF. It is not
          covered by the General Public License, either.

          However, the FSF has decided to distribute gnuplot as part of
          the GNU system, because it is useful, redistributable software.

   Q1.4: What does gnuplot offer?

          + Plotting of two-dimensional functions and data points in many
            different styles (points, lines, error bars)
          + plotting of three-dimensional data points and surfaces in
            many different styles (contour plot, mesh).
          + support for complex arithmetic
          + self - defined functions
          + support for a large number of operating systems, graphics
            file formats and devices
          + extensive on-line help
          + labels for title, axes, data points
          + command line editing and history on most platforms

   Q1.5: Is gnuplot suitable for batch processing?
          Yes. You can read in files from the command line, or you can
          redirect your standard input to read from a file. Both data and
          command files can be generated automatically, from data
          acquisition programs or whatever else you use.

   Q1.6: Can I run gnuplot on my computer?
          Gnuplot is available for a number of platforms. These are: Unix
          (X11 and NeXTSTEP), VAX/VMS, OS/2, MS-DOS, Amiga, MS-Windows,
          OS-9/68k, Atari ST and the Macintosh. Modifications for NEC
          PC-9801 are said to exist (where?).


  Section 2: Setting it up

   Q2.1: What is the current version of gnuplot?
          The current version of gnuplot is 3.5, which is a bugfix
          release over 3.4.

          Version 3.6 is in beta status. Please note that this is still
          unstable, and may not compile correctly on your system.

   Q2.2: Where can I get gnuplot?
          All of the later addresses refer to ftp sites. Please note that
          it is preferable for you to use the symbolic name, rather than
          the IP address given in brackets, because that address is much
          more subject to change.

          The official distribution site for the gnuplot source is
          ftp.dartmouth.edu [129.170.16.4, soon to be 129.170.8.11],
          the file is called /pub/gnuplot/gnuplot3.5.tar.Z. Official
          mirrors of that distribution are (for Australia)
          ftp.monash.edu.au [130.194.11.18] and (for Europe)
          irisa.irisa.fr [131.254.254.2]. You can also get it from your
          friendly neighbourhood comp.sources.misc archive.

          MS-DOS and MS-Windows binaries are available from

          + oak.oakland.edu (North America) [141.210.10.117] as
            /Simtel/msdos/plot/gpt35*.zip,
          + garbo.uwasa.fi (Europe) [193.166.120.5] as
            /pc/plot/gpt35*.zip and
          + archie.au (Australia) [139.130.4.6] as
            micros/pc/oak/plot/gpt35*.zip.

          The files are: gpt35doc.zip, gpt35exe.zip, gpt35src.zip and
          gpt35win.zip.

          There is a special MS-DOS version for 386 or better processors;
          it is available from the official gnuplot sites as DOS34.zip.

          OS/2 2.x binaries are at ftp-os2.nmsu.edu [128.123.35.151],
          in /os2/2.x/unix/gnuplt35.zip.

          Amiga sources and binaries are available from ftp.wustl.edu
          [128.252.135.4] as /pub/aminet/util/gnu/gnuplot-3.5.lha; there
          are numerous mirrors of this distribution, for example
          ftp.uni-kl.de, oes.orst.edu or ftp.luth.se.

          The NeXTSTEP front end can be found at
          ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/binaries/plotting/ as
          Gnuplot1.2_bin.tar.Z.

          A version for OS-9/68K can be found at cabrales.cs.wisc.edu
          [128.105.36.20] as /pub/OSK/GRAPHICS/gnuplot32x.tar.Z; it
          includes both X-Windows and non - X-windows versions.

          There is a version for the Macintosh at
          ftp://ftp.ee.gatech.edu/pub/mac/gnuplot/ which includes
          binaries for 68000-based Macs with and without FPU and native
          support for PowerMacs.

          Versions for the Atari ST and TT, which include some GEM
          windowing support, are available from
          ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/atari/graphics/, as gplt35st.zip
          and gplt35tt.zip. They work best under MiNT.

          Executable files, plus documentation in Japanese, exist for the
          X680x0 on
          ftp://ftp.csis.oita-u.ac.jp/pub/x68k/fj.binaries.x68000/vol
          2.

          People without ftp access can use an ftp-mail server; send a
          message saying 'help' to bitftp@pucc.bitnet (for BITNET only)
          or to ftpmail@ftp.dartmouth.edu.

          For a uuencoded copy of the the gnuplot sources (compressed tar
          file), send this as the body of a message to
          ftpmail@ftp.dartmouth.edu:


        open
        cd pub/gnuplot
        mode binary
        get gnuplot3.5.tar.Z
        quit

   If you have some problem, you might need to stick

        reply-to  

   before all the above.

          It is a good idea to look for a nearby ftp site when
          downloading things. You can use archie for this. See if an
          archie client is installed at your system (by simply typing
          archie at the command prompt), or send mail to archie@sura.net
          with the word 'help' in both the subject line and the body of
          the mail. However, be aware that the version you find at a near
          ftp site may well be out of date; check the last modification
          date and the number of bytes against the newest release at one
          of the official servers.

          You can obtain a beta release of gnuplot 3.6 from
          ftp://cmpc1.phys.soton.ac.uk/pub/.

   Q2.3: How do I get gnuplot to compile on my system?
          As you would any other installation. Read the files README and
          README.Install, edit the Makefile according to taste, and run
          make or whatever is suitable for your operating system.

          If you get a complaint about a missing file libplot.a or
          something similar when building gnuplot for X11, remove
          -DUNIXPLOT from the TERMFLAGS= line, remove -lplot from the
          DTBS= line and run again. If you are making X11 on a sun, type
          'make x11_sun'.

          For compiling gnuplot under Irix 5.2 and Irix 5.3, there is a
          patch in the file lvs.zip in the contrib directory at
          ftp.dartmouth.edu.

   Q2.4: What documentation is there, and how do I get it?
          The documentation is included in the source distribution. Look
          at the docs subdirectory, where you'll find

          + a Unix man page, which says how to start gnuplot
          + a help file, which also can be printed as a manual
          + a tutorial on using gnuplot with LaTeX
          + a quick reference summary sheet for TeX only

          PostScript copies of the documentation can be ftp'd from
          ftp.dartmouth.edu, in pub/gnuplot, as manual.ps.Z and
          tutorial.ps.Z

          Andy Liaw and Dick Crawford have written a 16-page user's
          guide. It is available from
          ftp://picard.tamu.edu/pub/gnuplot/ as gptug.tex (also get
          example.tex from the same directory), gptug.dvi or gptug.ps.

          At the same site, there's a two- page instruction sheet for the
          enhpost PostScript driver (see Q4.6 ) as enhpost.guide.ps
          and a short guide to gnuplot PostScript files, as gp-ps.doc.

          A Chinese translation of the gnuplot manual can be found on
          ftp://servers.nctu.edu.tw/misc/environment/NCTU_EV/classnot
          e/gnuplot.ps.gz .

          There is a WWW hompepage for gnuplot at
          http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/gnuplot_info.html, which
          includes the reference manual and a demo.

          There are two more Chinese documents about gnuplot: a 72 - page
          User's guide
          ftp://phi.sinica.edu.tw/pub/aspac/doc/94/94002.ps.gz and a
          28 - page Touring Guide
          ftp://phi.sinica.edu.tw/pub/aspac/doc/95/95006.ps.gz. Both
          documents are in PostScript format and gzipped.


  Section 3: Working with it

   Q3.1: How do I get help?
          Give the 'help' command at the initial prompt. After that, keep
          looking through the keywords. Good starting points are 'plot'
          and 'set'.

          Read the manual, if you have it.

          Look through the demo subdirectory; it should give you some
          ideas.

          Ask your colleagues, the system administrator or the person who
          set up gnuplot.

          Post a question to comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot or send mail
          to the gatewayed mailing list info-gnuplot@dartmouth.edu. If
          you want to subscribe to the mailing list, send a mail to
          majordomo@dartmouth.edu with the body of the message being
          'subscribe info-gnuplot'. Please don't do this if you can get
          comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot directly. If you pose a
          question there, it is considered good form to solicit e-mail
          replies and post a summary.

   Q3.2: How do I print out my graphs?
          The kind of output produced is determined by the 'set terminal'
          command; for example, 'set terminal postscript' will produce
          the graph in PostScript format. Output can be redirected using
          the 'set output' command.

          As an example, the following prints out a graph of sin(x) on a
          Unix machine running the X Window system.


        gnuplot> plot [-6:6] sin(x)
        gnuplot> set terminal postscript
        Terminal type set to 'postscript'
        Options are 'landscape monochrome "Courier" 14'
        gnuplot> set output "sin.ps"
        gnuplot> replot
        gnuplot> set output              # set output back to default
        gnuplot> set terminal x11        # ditto for terminal type
        gnuplot> ! lp -ops sin.ps        # print PS File (site dependent)
        request id is lprint-3433 (standard input)
        lp: printed file sin.ps on fg20.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (5068 Byte)
        !
        gnuplot>

   Q3.3: How do I include my graphs in ?
          Basically, you save your plot to a file in a format your word
          processor can understand (using "set term" and "set output",
          see above), and then you read in the plot from your word
          processor.

          Details depend on the kind of word processor you use; use "set
          term" to get a list of available file formats.

          Many word processors can use Encapsulated PostScript for
          graphs. This can be generated by the "set terminal postscript
          eps" command. Most MS-DOS word processors understand HPGL
          (terminal type hpgl).

          With TeX, it depends on what you use to print your dvi files.
          If you use dvips or dvi2ps, you can use Encapsulated
          PostScript. For emTeX (popular for MS-DOS), you can use emTeX,
          otherwise use the LaTeX terminal type, which generates a
          picture environment.

          If nothing else helps, try using the pgm or ppm format and
          converting it to a bitmap format your favourite word processor
          can understand. An invaluable tool for this is Jef Poskanzer's
          PBMPLUS package.

          The PBMPLUS package is available in the contrib distribution
          for the X Window System. The original site for this is
          ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/. There are many mirrors, e.g.
          ftp://ftp.th-darmstadt.de/pub/X11/contrib/ or .
          ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/X11/contrib/.

          The most recent release of pbm by the author is dated December
          91 and is called pbmplus10dec91.tar.Z

          There is new version including lots of patches from the net
          that is not maintained by the author called netpbm, with the
          newest version called netpbm-7dec1993.tar.gz.

          Check archie (see Q2.2 ) for an archive site near you.

   Q3.4: How do I post-process a gnuplot graph?
          This depends on the terminal type you use.

          You can use the terminal type fig (you may need to recompile
          gnuplot to enable this terminal type, by putting #define FIG
          into ), and use the xfig drawing program to edit the
          plot afterwards.

          For PostScript output, you may be able to use the pstotgif
          script (which calls GhostScript) to convert PostScript into the
          format of the tgif drawing program. Tgif is also able to save
          in PostScript format.

          Both tgif and xfig can be obtained from the X Window contrib
          distribution (see Q3.3).

          Another possibility for modifying PostScript output appears to
          be IslandDraw, a commercial drawing program for UNIX
          workstations.

          For Windows, there is another alternative, PageDraw. It can
          post-process AI (Adobe Illustrator) files, and has a converter
          from PostScript to AI. It can be downloaded from
          http://www.wix.com/PageDraw/.

   Q3.5: How do I change symbol size, line thickness and the like?
          Again, this depends on the terminal type. For PostScript, you
          can edit the generated PostScript file. An overview of what
          means what in the PostScript files gnuplot generates can be
          found at ftp://picard.tamu.edu/pub/gnuplot/ as gs-ps.doc.
          A general introduction to PostScript can be found at
          ftp://unix.hensa.ac.uk/pub/misc/ukc.reports/comp.sci/repor
          ts/ as 11-92.ps.Z.

   Q3.6: How do I generate plots in GIF format?
          In gnuplot version 3.5, use the pbm terminal and use the
          PBMPLUS package or other utilities to convert the resulting
          bitmap (see Q 3.3 for how to get the PBMPLUS package).

          In 3.6, there will be a gif terminal.


  Section 4: Wanted features

   Q4.0: What's new in gnuplot 3.6?
          Here's the WhatsNew file of the current beta release,
          patchlevel 213.


What's new in 3.6 ?

Still to do
  Many terminals to be converted to new layout
  someone has contributed a new hidden-line-removal
  '-' as load filename / command-line param
  key for splot with contour is ugly
  timeseries stuff has got broken (well, non-portable code)
  terminals are no longer allowed to do their own scaling

Plus quite a few contributed patches that I haven't yet installed (sorry)

in 194
  multiplot for splot

in 188
  os9 port
  set xrange [] reverse writeback
  allow mix of co-ordinate systems within an arrow/label posn
  initial multiplot support
  - doesn't yet check that terminal is capable, but there is a
    flags field added to the terminal entry to tell gnuplot about this.
    also, suspend() / resume() entry points which are to be called
    between plots of a multiplot.

in 178
   arbitrary length/number of columns in datafile
   accept double/quad-precision fortran numbers (1.23{dDqQ}4)
   - but not in scanf format string
   undefined fit parameters start at 1 rather than 1e-30
   - more chance of convergence / less change of unitary matrix
   WIN32 / Win-NT support
   table output can be read back in for data splot
   - hence gnuplot can be used to dgrid a datafile and write it out
   set missing 'string'
   - nominate a token as standing for missing values in datafile
   - not yet added to documentation
   updates to time-series stuff (so it doesn't break at 2000)
   - except it has become horribly non-portable :-(
   split graph3d.c into util3d.c and hidden3d.c

in 166
   set bar 
   - a number rather than just small or large
   allow different linetypes for grid at major and minor tics
   a few more set no* commands for consistency.
   initial go at implementing tic mirrors and axes for splot
   - no ztic axis yet (or no zzeroaxis)
   - tics on axes are not hidden by surface
   attempt to make sin(x) behave as expected when set angle degrees
   - gives answers if x is complex, but I dont know if they are correct
     - acos(cos(x)) seems to give x, so at least its consistent
   - fix a bug which made acos(cos({0,1})) undefined
   new grass.trm

in release 162/164
   set size [{no}square] x,y  - tries to plot with aspect ratio 1
   - seems to work great for postscript
   - please check with your favourite driver
   - uses relative sizes of tics to determine required size.
   posn for key, labels and arrows can be in one of 4 co-ordinate systems
   - first_axes (default)
   - second_axes (for plot..second)
   - graph  (0,0 -> 1,1 = plotting area)
   - screen (0,0 -> 1,1 = whole screen)
   - arrows needn't have endpoints in same co-ords. see help set label
   via is now a required keyword for fit
   - fit f(x) 'file' ... via { 'file' | a,b,... }
   - this is to avoid confusing 'file' with 'using-format-string'
   win32 and 16-bit dos fixes
   - I can compile with tc++, but get an overlay error at runtime.
   new set of documentation programs (I haven't tried them)
   various tweaks to makefile
   changes to pslatex
   - substitute .ps at _last_ . in filename
   - accept font size of enclosing document as an option.
   - dont forget to close aux file

in release 151

  linux security patch
  can specify font for labels, etc (postscript only ? - I haven't tried this)
  can specify linetype to draw grid / zeroaxes / arrows
  emx terminal driver
  first attempt at pipes for VMS and vector style - needs more work
  l/b/r/t-margin  in place of xmargin - more control over size of margins
  incompatible changes to polar mode:
  - t is now the dummy variable, so x is width of plot as expected
  - tics are not automatically on axes -   set {xy}tics axis nomirror
  - grid is not automatically polar - set grid x [mx] polar [angle]
  - no numbers on grid - they were always in degrees
  second axes
  - x2 and y2 are an independent pair of axes, but they inherit
    ranges from x and y if no second data
    - there can be problems with this, actually - if x2tics are not
      shown, x2range is not autoextended to whole number of tics, so
      same data might not have same range.
  - set x2tics/y2tics/x2label/y2label
  - set [no]log x2 / y2
  - plot [first,] f(x), 'file', ..., second, g(x), ...
  - get specify grid at any/all of x,y,x2,y2
  - see electron.dem
  set border  - 12 bit binary number selects 12 sides of cube around splo
t
  can specify grid z, to get a grid on back wall of splot
  set mxtics [|default] | set nomxtics
  - set mxtics  gives auto for logscale, fixed for linear
  binary, index and every keywords to datafiles.
  - every also works with binary files
  can use '-' as datafile for inline data (ends at line with e)
  can use '' to mean reuse previous file
  splot and fit now use datafile module
  - FIT_SKIP no longer supported - use fit f(x) 'file' every n
  can limit fit range using   fit [variable=min:max] f(variable) ...
  set ticscale  []
  surface is clipped with no hidden line removal
  - still to do contour and hidden-line surface
  set {x|y|x2|y2} [axis|border] [no]mirror
  - can put tics on border or axes
  - mirror controls mirroring of tics on opposite axis
    - no longer coupled to  set tics out  setiing.
  No longer need to specify parametric mode for 3-column data files.
  ranges automatically extended to whole number of tic intervals
  - doesn't always manage to drop vertical from surface to corner of base
    - workaround is either specify range or use  set border

patchlevel 140
--------------
I've probably missed a lot of features since I'm so used to them.
Plus I never bothered with 3.5 so some of these may have been there.
some of these may have made it into the documentation
Here goes:

  fit f(x) 'file' via ...
  read and plot time data  (timedat.dem)
  set key [top|bottom|under] [left|right|out] [reverse] [box []]
  set key title 'text'
  Processing of escape sequences in "strings" but not 'strings'
  - TeX users in particular advised to use ''
  Multiline labels, etc, using "first\nsecond"
  enhpost driver
  call command (load with parameters)
  x error bars. splines. boxes. [some may have been in 3.5]
  pipes for amiga
  the using patch   plot 'file' using spec:spec:...
  - spec is either column number or (expression in $1, $2, ...)
  new pslatex driver with postscript to aux file.
  set pointsize  on some terminals
  doubles in  plot...using  format string - %lf
  unlimited input line length and expression (action) table
  minor tic-marks (like logscale but also for linear)
  - also set grid [mx|my]



that's all I can think of for the moment...

   Q4.1: Does gnuplot have hidden line removal?
          Version 3.5 supports hidden line removal on all platforms
          except MS-DOS; use the command


        set hidden3d

   If someone can solve the 64K DGROUP memory problem, gnuplot would
          support hidden line removal on MS-DOS as well. Version 3.2
          supports limited hidden line removal.

   Q4.2: Does gnuplot support bar-charts/histograms/boxes?
          As of version 3.4, it does; use the style "with boxes" for bar
          charts. To get filled boxes, you can try a modification by
          Steve Cumming, available via ftp from
          ftp://grebe.geog.ubc.ca/pub/gnuplot as box.tar.

   Q4.3: Does gnuplot support multiple y-axes on a single plot?
          Yes, with two unofficial mods, multiplot.shar and borders.shar.
          They can be obtained from
          ftp://ftp.dartmouth.edu/pub/gnuplot/contrib/multi_woo.zip
          or ftp://ftp.cygnus.edu/incoming/gpx38.zip.

          Also, 3.6 supports this capability.

   Q4.4: Can I put multiple plots on a single page?
          Yes, with the multiplot.shar mod, or if you are running gnuplot
          3.6. If you are using PostScript output, check out mpage, which
          can be ftp'd from ftp.eng.umd.edu:pub/misc/mpage-2.tar.Z

   Q4.5: Can I put both data files and commands into a single file?
          This feature is in gnuplot 3.6.

   Q4.6: Can I put Greek letters and super/subscripts into my labels?
          You might try using the LaTeX terminal type and putting text
          like \alpha_{3} into it.

          David Denholm has written a PostScript terminal which allows
          for super/and subscripts, such as a^x or {/Symbol a }. Ftp to
          sotona.phys.soton.ac.uk [152.78.192.42] and get enhpost.trm,
          written by David Denholm and Matt Heffron. To install it,
          follow the instructions at the top of the file, then recompile.
          enhpost is also included in gnuplot 3.6.

   Q4.7: Can I do 1:1 scaling of axes?
          Not easily in 3.5; in 3.6, you can use "set size square".

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