Contributions to GNUPLOT

Most of these files have been archived with the info-zip utility available from quest.jpl.nasa.gov by anonymous ftp.

David Denholm Mods

David Denholm has made extensive mods including a much improved "thru" data processing capability and enhanced postscript driver with super/subscripts and fonts and much more. A more complete description.

Data Handling

• Labels, thru, unformatted FORTRAN datasets, improved doc2info script
  1. Labels can now be positioned either using plot coordinates (the current method) or in device-relative coordinates. Device-rel coords are specified as a fraction of max device X and Y. Positioning labels this way is done using the "on" keyword to the "set label" command:
     set label 1 "test label" on 0.3,0.8
     This puts the label at 30% of the device X dimension and 80% of the Y dimension. Using "at" instead of "on" makes label positioning use plot-relative coords, just as in standard gnuplot 3.5. This mod is especially useful for placing plot labels that don't have anything to do with the plot data, such as sequence numbers or classification markings.
  2. Some minor mods were made to the Makefile to add a target for Irix-5.2 and to add an option to copy the gnuplot demos to a directory in the install tree.
  3. The "thru" keyword in the "plot" command (passes Y axis data through a function) was complemented by the "xthru" keyword, which performs the same processing except on the X axis data. "ythru" was also made a synonym for "thru" to provide a mnemonic for which is which.
  4. Capability to read a ordinary Fortran-style unformatted file was added. At LV, we often have large datasets with hundreds of columns and thousands of rows. A typical application that generates this kind of output is a complex system simulation, generally written in Fortran. To save space and decrease I/O time, these data files are generally written as Fortran unformatted files. The format of Fortran unformatted files seems to be common across all Unix workstations I have used (DEC, Sun, HP, SGI) and the one PC compiler I have used (Watcom). (NOTE: VMS is different, though.) So, I modified gnuplot to read this type of file. It can handle single- or double-precision data, although it cannot autodetect between these two. (It can, however, autodetect a binary file, and assumes single-precision unless told otherwise.) If you use large datasets and are looking for a way to speed up reading and plotting of these datasets, this might be very useful for you.
  5. The "gnuplot_eps" gawk script somebody else contributed has been modified to make landscape page orientation the default, with portrait mode selectable by command-line option. It was also converted to a Perl script.
  6. The docs/doc2info script has been modified to generate the "next", "prev", and "up" data for each Info node. This makes the texinfo file so generated much more useful.
  7. The docs/gnuplot.doc file has been modified to incorporate the above changes.
  
  From: Kevin Rodgers rodgers@lvs-emh.lvs.loral.com

• Data Filtering Instead of just having two params following the style param, there are now 4:
  • 1: line_type
  • 2: point_type
  • 3: point_skip - gives the number of data samples per plotted point
  • 4: point_offs - gives the sample number on which to plot the first point
  Thus points are plotted only for the samples n satisfying
  n = point_skip*i + point_offs
  for some non-negative integer i.
  From: pixar!sun!prony.Colorado.EDU!clarkmp@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Michael Clark)

• Point Skip with Awk With UNIX,
  gnuplot> plot "< awk '{if(NR%5==0)print$0}' file.dat"
  From: James Darrell McCauley, mccauley@ecn.purdue.edu

• Missing data values in 2D
  From: walt@diusys.cms.udel.edu (Walt Dabell)

  Vectors and Arrows

• Program to convert lines to vectors This program turns line segments into line segments with a half-arrow at the head: by uncommenting two lines below, the arrowhead will be a triangle.
  optional arguments: size angle
  where size is a fraction of each vector's magnitude and angle is in degrees all data taken from standard input, and output to standard output. typical invocation: arrow 0.2 15 vector.heads
  From: andrew@jarthur.claremont.edu (Andrew M. Ross)

• Vect2gp, an awk script to make gnuplot command script to draw a vector field map.
  From: hiro@ice3.ori.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Yasu-Hiro YAMAZAKI)

• In the modified version, key, label, and arrow positions can be entered in user coordinates as before and also in relative coordinates in which the left and bottom borders of the graph correspond to 0 and the right and top ones to 1 (and for label and key also in various combinations of the two coordinate systems). This can be achieved by the new `set relkey` command and new keywords `atR`, `fromR` and `toR` in the `set label` and `set arrow` commands. By specifying x or y negative in set relkey x,y, one can interchange the position of the text description and line representation in the key. There is also 9 key "default" positions specified by `set --key`, where -- is one of tr, cr, br, tc, cc, bc, tl, cl, bl (or rt, rc, etc.). In the left border positions (tl,cl,bl), text and line description are automatically reversed.

  Only integer offsets in `set time`, `set title`, `set xlabel`, `set ylabel` and `set zlabel` were originally allowed representing multiples of the character width and length. Especially in the y direction that represented a rather crude control of the position. In the modified version, arbitrary real numbers will be properly interpreted as fractions of the character width and length.
  Contact the author: From: "Miroslav (Mirek) Kolar" kolarm@wu21.wl.aecl.ca

  SIPP converter

• GNUPLOT to SIPP This is a "far from perfect" converter that takes gnuplot table output and splits it in polygons. Then it calls sipp to render it. You get sipp from isy.liu.se:/pub/sipp or ask archie.
  From: chammer@POST.uni-bielefeld.de (Carsten Hammer)

  Histograms and Pie Charts

• Histogram C program The short C program below is a filter that calculates a histogram from a sequence of numbers and prints the output in such a format that Gnuplot can plot the histogram by the command sequence
  !histogram < datain > tmp; plot "tmp" with impulses
  From: mustafa@seas.smu.edu (Mustafa Kocaturk)

• HG is an automatic histogram generator. it reads a column of data from an input file and emits a [log] histogram ks does ks or chi^2 tests on a set of input arrays. you need the "numerical recipes in C" library somewhere on your system to link this one. I can not undertake to fix bugs or add features, but I might do it if asked.
  From: Steve Cumming stevec@geog.ubc.ca

• Piechart C program The short C program below formats data for display as a piechart.
  From: mccauley@ecn.purdue.edu (James Darrell McCauley)

  Interprocess Communications

• Notes of Windows Hooks
  From: Maurice Castro,maurice@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au

• Named Pipes Example
  From: dtaber@deathstar.risc.rockwell.com (Don Taber)

• PipeLib What the library does is set up to 20 programs going (like gnuplot), then allows you to send to them as if the program were typing on the command line. I've included a brief set of docs after the source code, in latex format. There is no facility to watch the output of a program.
  From: ssclift@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Simon Clift)

• Popen example from lsqrfit The following function sends a command to gnuplot. Gnuplot will execute the command just as if you typed it at the gnuplot command line. This example is adapted from my least squares fitting program which is located at ftp.cdrom.com in pub/os2/2_x/unix/lsqrft14.zip. Complete source is included.
  From: michael@krypton.mit.edu (Michael Courtney)

• Awk script for linear regression piped to gnuplot
  From: wgchoe@scoupe.postech.ac.kr ( Kim Hee Jeong(prof-swan))

  Multiple logical plots on a single page

• Gawk script for multiple encapsulated postscript on a page It's slightly more flexible than mpage, because it changes the aspect ratio of the plots; mpage according to the documentation only allows 1, 2, 4, or 8 plots on a page. This script works for unix with encapsulated postscript (eps) output. It should work with gawk or nawk, although I've only tested it with gawk. (Gawk is GNU's version of awk and is available from prep.ai.mit.edu.) You just specify how many rows and columns of plots you want and it does the rest. For example,
  gnuplot_eps rows=3 cols=2 *.eps | lpr
  will print all eps files in your current directory with 6 on a page. Also, see the comments in the file.
  From: holt@goethe.cns.caltech.edu (Gary Holt)

• Another Gawk script for multiple eps on a page but with LANDSCAPE

   To use this file, put its directory in your path.  When you are in
   gnuplot, type
        set terminal postscript eps
        set output "|gnuplot_eps rows=3 cols=2 > outfile.ps"
  
   and then issue plot commands normally.
   The first plot will go on the upper left of the page.
   You can also specify colorder=1 on the command line before the minus sign
   or the list of files, and the plots will be ordered so that the first
   column is filled up, then the second, etc.  Normally, the first row is
   filled up, then the second, etc.
  
  
   If you want to put a title at the top of each page, specify 'title="string"'
   somewhere on the command line, e.g.,
  
  
         gnuplot_eps rows=3 cols=2 title="Data to prove I'm right"
  
  
  
   modified 12-15-94 KMR (rodgers@lvs-emh.lvs.loral.com) to allow
   switch between portrait and landscape.  The default is now LANDSCAPE!
  
   
  Sed script for multiple encapsulated postscript on a page You have MULTIPLE
  postscript files each containing a single plot.
  
  
  
  From: wgchoe@scoupe.postech.ac.kr (Choe Won Gyu)
  
  
  C program to merge gnuplot postscript files .
  
  
  
  From:  Willem Kasdorp wkasdo@paramount.nikhefk.nikhef.nl
  
  Massive patch with add multiplotcapability to all devices and a lot more.  
  The reason it is offered in this form is because the original
  multiplot.pat did not patch correctly into gnuplot version 3.5.  This
  mod also add borders options, financial plots, multiple line titles
  and other asundry items.  Use at your own risk.  Look at the top of
  makefile.r for a more complete list of changes.
  
  
  
  From: Alex Woo, woo@playfair.stanford.edu
  
  Miscellaneous Mods
  
  Congp3d3 is a preprocessor to draw contour plots on irregular regions.  
  
  From: mrb2@nrc.gov (Margaret Rose Byrne)
  
  Sockpipe is a socket based pipe needed for the Stardent OS.  
  
  
  
  From: Mike Hallesy, Stardent Computer Product Support, hal@stardent.com
  
  Time Series is a patch to add multiline titles and
  labels, time series x and y data and tic marks, and automatic resizing
  of plots and much more.
  
  
  
  From: Hans Olav Eggestad, olav@jordforsk.nlh.no
  
  
  Mods to Drivers and New Drivers 
  
  Rotated Text 
  From baseline gnuplot 3.5:
  
         Rotated text to arbitrary angles in the following terminals:
      
      bigfig
      
      debug
      
      fig
      
      post
      
      x11 [implemented using xvertext 5.0]
      
      xlib
  
  From: Neil Matthews (matthews@aero.soton.ac.uk)
  
  GIF driver based on GD library from Cold Spring Harbor
  The goal was to make gnuplot useful for interactive WEB applications.
  
  
  
  From: Alex Woo woo@playfair.stanford.edu
  
  New Xlib mods.
  
  
  
  From: gregg hanna (gregor@kafka.saic.com)
  
   New fig driver for fig version 3.1  
  These files are drop-in replacements for the files distributed with
  gnuplot 3.5, and allow gnuplot to produce FIG 3.1 format plot files,
  in place of the current FIG 2.1 format.
  
  
  
  From: Ian MacPhedran,    
  Email: Ian_MacPhedran@engr.USask.CA
  
  
  
  
  Other Operationing Systems
  
  
  MacIntosh Port of Version 3.2
  
  
  
  From: Noboru Yamamoto,      sun!kekvax.kek.jp!YAMAMOTO@pixar.com
  
  MacIntosh Port of Version 3.5
  
  
  
  From: laval@londres.cma.fr (Philippe LAVAL)
  
  OS-9 Port of Version 3.2
  
  
  From: Budelsky
  
  
  FAT Mac Port
  
  This site contains an improved Macintosh version of gnuplot. However,
  please consider this software to still be under development.
  
  Multiple flavors: 68K, 68K w/fpu, and Power Macintosh
  Multiple languages: French, German, Spanish, and Catalan are currently
  available. Due to they way I've implemented localization, new languages
  are trivial to do. I have a standing request for people to do translations
  not listed above.
  
  
  There is some AppleScript stuff here, but it is still very
  rudimentary. 
  
  
  I will make documentation available when I get around to
  it. Hopefully, this will include an improved help file.
  
  
  Please send any bug reports to me at schooley@ee.gatech.edu. In addition,
  please feel free to send along any suggestions for improvements. Just
  remember, I'm working on this in my spare time. However, if anything
  bad is reported, I'll try to get a fix out as soon as possible.
  
  
  Please include the version number in any bug reports, along with
  your cpu configuration.
  
  
  Finally, please send me mail if you have obtained this software. I'm
  asking this for two reasons:
  
  
  1) I`m curious to know how many people are using it.
  
  
  2) I'll put you on the list to be notified of updates.
  
  
  In case anybody is wondering, I plan to keep this as free software.
  
  
  ---Dave---
  schooley@ee.gatech.edu
  
  
  Win32 Version of gnuplot 3.5
  
  
  
  From: Russell Lang
  
   Information and Guides 
  
  A short guide for enhanced postscript driver in gnuplot
  Click here for the enhpost patches or go to 
  Denholm's ftp site.
  A short note about the structure of PostScript files written by gnuplot.
  
  
  
   Interfaces 
  
  
  Xgnuplot 1.0, an X-windows tcl/tk interface.
  The Xgnuplot application provides a convenient means
  to set gnuplot options using a point and click approach.  Since the
  application is written entirely in the scripting language Tcl using the
  Tk toolkit, it is extensible and users can easily add additional functionality.
  
  
  The application works by communicating with gnuplot via a pipe and therefore
  it is not necessary to recompile gnuplot or modify it in any way.  This is
  the first release of Xgnuplot and although I believe it is already a useful
  program the intention is to develop it further adding support for other
  tools. Tcl provides an excellent "glue" to build powerful applications
  from smaller tools using a range of inter-process communication methods.
  Xgnuplot therefore makes it easy to integrate many applications using
  gnuplot for the visualization.
  
  This software is placed in the public domain, although remains
  copyright Paul Alexander.  You may use it for any purpose you
  wish without restriction.  This software is provided without any
  warranty of any kind.
  Paul Alexander                          pa@mrao.cam.ac.uk
  University of Cambridge,
  Department of Physics,
  Cavendish Laboratory,
  Madingley Road,
  Cambridge
  CB3 OHE
  England
  
  
  Perl based gnuplot controller: gpcon
      A program to control the plotting of a number of files via GNUPLOT.
  Usage:  $0  [options]  plot_file  ...
          $0  [-Conv | -Undo]  rdbtable  ...
  
  Options:
      -c N      Plot 2-d curves using column 'N' as the 'Y' values (column 1 is
  	      the 'X' values).
      -Conv     Convert the given list of rdbtables to gnuplot files.
      -dir DIR  Use dir 'DIR' instead of the default.
      -file     File output (postscript). Filenames prepended with "ps.".
      -fcolor   File output (color postscript). Filenames prepended with "ps.".
      -gen FILE Generate a script file 'FILE' from interactive inputs.
      -help     Print this help info.
      -in FILE  Commands are read from the script file 'FILE'.
      -lx LABEL Label for the 'x' direction on the plot. Default is the name of
  	      column one being used. No embedded spaces.
      -ly LABEL Label for the 'y' direction on the plot. Default is the name of
  	      column two being used. No embedded spaces.
      -m [N ...] Multi curve plots (2-D) using columns N ... Default is all
  	      columns in data file. This is the default startup condition.
      -nogrid   No grid on plot.
      -notime   No time and date on plot.
      -on PRIN  Use printer 'PRIN' for printing.
      -print    Print output on the B/W printer.
      -pcolor   Print output on the color printer.
      -rx N1 N2 The range to use on the plot in the 'x' direction is N1 to N2.
  	      Default is generated automatically.
      -ry N1 N2 The range to use on the plot in the 'y' direction is N1 to N2.
  	      Default is generated automatically.
      -s J K L  Show surface plots using coumns J, K, L for X, Y, Z values
      -t        Use the filename as the title (default).
      -Undo     Restore the given list of gnuplot files to rdbtables.
  
  
  This is a typical (part) of a plot file.
  The comment line starting with '##' by convention contains the column names,
  for the key (auto generated).
  The other comment lines that start with '#ti', '#ly', '#gp', etc.
  contain optional info for the plot file (also auto generated).
  A line that starts with '#gp_setup' means the gnuplot commands or others
  will be executed but this file will not be plotted; e.g. this file is a
  'setup' file only, used to restore some gnuplot conditions, for example.
  #ti The Title for this plot.
  #ly The Y label for this plot
  #gp A gnuplot command, executed before this plot is generated
  ## Year	Temp	Cost_Abt	Cost_Dam
  1992	0.500000	0.124001	0.000527
  1993	0.547674	0.120067	0.000679
  1994	0.579949	0.116521	0.000791
  
  From: Walt Hobbs hobbs@rand.org
  
  Box Plot Mods.box.diff contains context diffs for box filling/hatching mods,
  relative to gnuplot:
  	 version  3.5
  	 patchlevel 3.50.1.17, 27 Aug 93
  	 last modified Fri Aug 27 05:21:33 GMT 1993 
  
  
  test.gp contains a sample script, which generated part of the figure
  in test.ps The necessary data files are d.age*.h.
  
  
  You'll notice that to get the separation and spacing of the boxes,
  I needed to diddle the data files, although I guess I could have
  used plot thru. This really should be automagic though:
  N box plots about the same x values should be centered and spaced
  as shown: people who mix plot styles deserve what they get....
  
  
  
  From: Steve Cumming stevec@geog.ubc.ca
  
  Gray box mods in postscript only.
  
  
  
  From: charney@piglet.cam.cornell.edu (Mark Charney)