SunOS man pages : plot (3)
GNU Plotting Utilities PLOT(1)
NAME
plot - translate GNU metafiles to other graphics formats
SYNOPSIS
plot [ options ] [ files ]
DESCRIPTION
plot translates files in GNU metafile format to other graph-
ics formats, or displays them on an X Window System display.
GNU metafile format is a device-independent format for the
storage of graphic data. It is the default output format of
the programs graph(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), and plotfont(1)
, and is further documented in plot(5), since it is
an enhanced version of the traditional plot(5) format found
on non-GNU systems. It can also be produced by the GNU lib-
plot 2-D graphics export library (see plot(3)).
The output format or display type is specified with the -T
option. The possible output formats and display types are
the same as those supported by graph(1), plotfont(1),
pic2plot(1), and tek2plot(1). If an output file is pro-
duced, it is written to standard output.
Options and file names may be interspersed on the command
line, but the options are processed before the file names
are read. If -- is seen, it is interpreted as the end of
the options. If no file names are specified, or the file
name - is encountered, the standard input is read.
OPTIONS
General Options
-T type
--display-type type
Select type as the output format or display type. It
may be "X", "png", "pnm", "gif", "svg", "ai", "ps",
"cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", or "meta"
(the default). These refer respectively to the X Win-
dow System, PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format,
portable anymap format (PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF for-
mat that does not use LZW encoding, the new XML-based
Scalable Vector Graphics format, the format used by
Adobe Illustrator, Postscript or Encapsulated
Postscript (EPS) that can be edited with idraw(1), CGM
format (by default, confirming to the WebCGM profile),
the format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the
Hewlett-Packard PCL 5 printer language, the
Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, ReGIS graphics for-
mat (which can be displayed by the dxterm(1) terminal
emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal), Tektronix
format (which can be displayed by the xterm(1) terminal
emulator), and device-independent GNU metafile format
itself. Unless type is "X", an output file is produced
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GNU Plotting Utilities PLOT(1)
and written to standard output.
Omitting the -T option is equivalent to specifying -T
meta. Translating from metafile format to itself is
occasionally useful, since there are two versions of
metafile format (see the -O option below).
A listing of the fonts available in any specified out-
put format may be obtained with the --help-fonts option
(see below). If a requested font is unavailable, a
default font will be substituted. The default font is
"Helvetica" for "X", "svg", "ai", "ps", "cgm", and
"fig", "Univers" for "pcl", and "HersheySerif" for
"png", "pnm", "gif", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", and
"meta".
-p n
--page-number n
Output only page number n, within the metafile or
sequence of metafiles that is being translated.
Metafiles may consist of one or more pages, numbered
beginning with 1. Also, each page may contain multiple
`frames'. plot -T X, plot -T regis, and plot -T tek,
which plot in real time, will separate successive
frames by screen erasures. plot -T png, plot -T pnm,
plot -T gif, plot -T svg, plot -T ai, plot -T ps, plot
-T cgm, plot -T fig, plot -T pcl, and plot -T hpgl,
which do not plot in real time, will output only the
last frame of any multi-frame page.
The default behavior, if -p is not used, is to output
all pages. For example, plot -T X displays each page
in its own X window. If the -T png, -T pnm, -T gif, -T
ai, or -T fig option is used, the default behavior is
to output only the first nonempty page, since files in
those output formats contain only a single page of
graphics.
Metafiles produced by graph(1) and plotfont(1) contain
only a single page (page #1), which consists of two
frames: an empty frame to clear the display, and a
second frame that contains the graphics.
-s
--merge-pages
Merge all displayed pages into a single page, and also
merge all `frames'.
This option is useful when merging together single-page
plots from different sources. For example, it can be
used to merge together plots obtained from separate
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invocations of graph(1).
--bitmap-size bitmap_size
Set the size of the graphics display in which the plot
will be drawn, in terms of pixels, to be bitmap_size.
The default is "570x570". This is relevant only to
plot -T X, plot -T png, plot -T pnm, and plot -T gif,
all of which produce bitmaps. If you choose a rec-
tangular (non-square) window size, the fonts in the
plot will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by different
factors in the horizontal and vertical directions. For
plot -T X, this requires an X11R6 display. Any font
that cannot be scaled in this way will be replaced by a
default scalable font, such as the vector font
"HersheySerif".
The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally well be
used to specify the window size. For backward compati-
bility, the X resource Xplot.geometry may be used
instead.
--emulate-color option
If option is yes, replace each color in the output by
an appropriate shade of gray. This is seldom useful,
except when using plot -T pcl to prepare output for a
PCL 5 device. (Many monochrome PCL 5 devices, such as
monochrome LaserJets, do a poor job of emulating color
on their own.) You may equally well request color emu-
lation by setting the environment variable
EMULATE_COLOR to "yes".
--max-line-length max_line_length
Set the maximum number of points that a polygonal line
may contain, before it is flushed out, to be
max_line_length. If this flushing occurs, the polygo-
nal line will be split into two or more sub-lines,
though the splitting should not be noticeable. The
default value of max_line_length is 500.
The reason for splitting long polygonal lines is that
some display devices (e.g., old Postscript printers and
pen HP-GL plotters) have limited buffer sizes. The
environment variable MAX_LINE_LENGTH can also be used
to specify the maximum line length.
--page-size pagesize
Set the size of the page on which the plot will be
positioned. This is relevant only to plot -T svg, plot
-T ai, plot -T ps, plot -T cgm, plot -T fig, plot -T
pcl, and plot -T hpgl. The default is "letter", which
means an 8.5 inch by 11 inch page. Any ISO page size
in the range "a0"..."a4" or ANSI page size in the range
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"a"..."e" may be specified ("letter" is an alias for
"a" and "tabloid" is an alias for "b"). "legal" and
"ledger" are recognized page sizes also. The environ-
ment variable PAGESIZE can equally well be used to
specify the page size.
The graphics display in which the plot is drawn will,
by default, be a square region that occupies nearly the
full width of the specified page. An alternative size
for the graphics display can be specified. For exam-
ple, the page size could be specified as
"letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or
"a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For all of the above
except plot -T hpgl, the graphics display will, by
default, be centered on the page. For all of the above
except plot -T svg and plot -T cgm, the graphics
display may be repositioned manually, by specifying the
location of its lower left corner, relative to the
lower left corner of the page. For example, the page
size could be specified as
"letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or
"a4,xorigin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also possible
to specify an offset vector. For example, the page
size could be specified as "letter,xoffset=1in", or
"letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or
"a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM format it
is possible to specify the size of the graphics
display, but not its position.
--rotation angle
Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Recog-
nized values are "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and
"yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively.
The environment variable ROTATION can also be used to
specify a rotation angle.
Parameter Initialization Options
The following options set the initial values of drawing
parameters. However, all of these may be overridden by
directives in a metafile. In fact, these options are useful
primarily when plotting old metafiles in the traditional
(pre-GNU) plot(5) format, which did not support such direc-
tives.
--bg-color name
Set the color initially used for the background to be
name. This is relevant only to plot -T X, plot -T png,
plot -T pnm, plot -T gif, plot -T svg, plot -T cgm, and
plot -T regis. An unrecognized name sets the color to
the default, which is "white". The environment vari-
able BG_COLOR can equally well be used to specify the
background color.
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If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transparent
PNG file or a transparent pseudo-GIF, respectively, may
be produced by setting the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environ-
ment variable to the name of the background color. If
the -T svg or -T cgm option is used, an output file
without a background may be produced by setting the
background color to "none".
-f size
--font-size size
Set the size of the font initially used for rendering
text, as a fraction of the width of the graphics
display, to be size. The default is 0.0525.
-F name
--font-name name
Set the font initially used for text to be name. Font
names are case-insensitive. If the specified font is
not available, the default font will be used. Which
fonts are available, and the default font, depend on
which -T option is specified (see above). A list of
available fonts can be obtained with the --help-fonts
option (see below).
-W line_width
--line-width line_width
Set the initial width of lines, as a fraction of the
width of the display, to be line_width. A negative
value means that a default value should be used. This
value is format-dependent. The interpretation of zero
line width is also format-dependent (in some output
formats, a zero-width line is the thinnest line that
can be drawn; in others, a zero-width line is invisi-
ble).
--pen-color name
Set the initial pen color to be name. An unrecognized
name sets the pen color to the default, which is
"black".
Options for Metafile Output
The following option is relevant only if the -T option is
omitted or if -T meta is used. In this case the output of
plot, like the input, will be in GNU graphics metafile for-
mat.
-O
--portable-output
Output the portable (human-readable) version of GNU
metafile format, rather than the binary version (the
default). The format of the binary version is
machine-dependent.
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Options for Backward Compatibility
By default, plot assumes that its input file(s) are in
either the binary version or the portable version of GNU
metafile format. You may specify that the input is,
instead, in the traditional Unix (pre-GNU) graphics metafile
format, which is documented in plot(5). The traditional
graphics metafile format was produced by pre-GNU versions of
graph(1).
-h
--high-byte-first-input
Input file(s) are assumed to be in the binary, `high
byte first' version of traditional metafile format.
This variant is uncommon.
-l
--low-byte-first-input
Input file(s) are assumed to be in the binary, `low
byte first' version of traditional metafile format.
This variant is the most common.
-A
--ascii-input
Input file(s) are assumed to be in the ASCII (human-
readable) variant of traditional metafile format. On
some older Unix systems, this variant was produced by
plottoa(1).
Informational Options
--help
Print a list of command-line options, and exit.
--help-fonts
Print a table of available fonts, and exit. The table
will depend on which output format or display type is
specified with the -T option. plot -T X, plot -T svg,
plot -T ai, plot -T ps, plot -T cgm, and plot -T fig
each support the 35 standard Postscript fonts. plot -T
svg, plot -T pcl, and plot -T hpgl support the 45 stan-
dard PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support a number
of Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All seven support a
set of 22 Hershey vector fonts, as do plot -T png, plot
-T pnm, plot -T gif, plot -T regis, and plot -T tek.
plot without a -T option in principle supports any of
these fonts, since its output must be translated to
other formats by a further invocation of plot.
The plotfont(1) utility may be used to obtain a charac-
ter map of any supported font.
--list-fonts
Like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single
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column to facilitate piping to other programs. If no
output format is specified with the -T option, the full
set of supported fonts is listed.
--version
Print the version number of plot and the plotting util-
ities package, and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR,
EMULATE_COLOR, MAX_LINE_LENGTH and ROTATION serve as backups
for the options --bitmap-size, --page-size, --bg-color,
--emulate-color, --max-line-length, and --rotation, respec-
tively. The remaining environment variables are specific to
individual output formats.
plot -T X, which pops up a window on an X Window System
display and draws graphics in it, checks the DISPLAY
environment variable. Its value determines the display that
will be used.
plot -T png and plot -T gif, which produce output in PNG
format and pseudo-GIF format respectively, are affected by
the INTERLACE environment variable. If its value is "yes",
the output will be interlaced. Also, if the
TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable is set to the name of
a color, that color will be treated as transparent in the
output.
plot -T pnm, which produces output in portable anymap
(PBM/PGM/PPM) format, is affected by the PNM_PORTABLE
environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output
will be in a human-readable format rather than binary (the
default).
plot -T cgm, which produces output in CGM (Computer Graphics
Metafile) format, is affected by the CGM_MAX_VERSION and
CGM_ENCODING environment variables. By default, it produces
a binary-encoded version of CGM version 3 format. For back-
ward compatibility, the version number may be reduced by
setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1". Irrespective of ver-
sion, the output CGM file will use the human-readable clear
text encoding if CGM_ENCODING is set to "clear_text". How-
ever, only binary-encoded CGM files conform to the WebCGM
profile.
plot -T pcl, which produces PCL 5 output for Hewlett-Packard
printers and plotters, is affected by the environment vari-
able PCL_ASSIGN_COLORS. It should be set to "yes" when pro-
ducing PCL 5 output for a color printer or other color dev-
ice. This will ensure accurate color reproduction by giving
the output device complete freedom in assigning colors,
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GNU Plotting Utilities PLOT(1)
internally, to its "logical pens". If it is "no" then the
device will use a fixed set of colored pens, and will emu-
late other colors by shading. The default is "no" because
monochrome PCL 5 devices, which are much more common than
colored ones, must use shading to emulate color.
plot -T hpgl, which produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language output, is affected by several environment vari-
ables. The most important is HPGL_VERSION, which may be set
to "1", "1.5", or "2" (the default). "1" means that the
output should be generic HP-GL, "1.5" means that the output
should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter and the
HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-GL with
some HP-GL/2 extensions), and "2" means that the output
should be modern HP-GL/2. If the version is "1" or "1.5"
then the only available fonts will be vector fonts, and all
lines will be drawn with a default width (the -W option will
not work). Additionally, if the version is "1" then the
filling of arbitrary curves with solid color will not be
supported (circles and rectangles aligned with the coordi-
nate axes may be filled, though).
The position of the plot -T hpgl graphics display on the
page can be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise by setting
the HPGL_ROTATE environment variable to "yes". This is not
the same as the rotation obtained with the --rotation
option, since it both rotates the graphics display and repo-
sitions its lower left corner toward another corner of the
page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized values for
HPGL_ROTATE are "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and "yes"
are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively. "180" and
"270" are supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" (the
default).
By default, plot -T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of pens.
Which pens are present may be specified by setting the
HPGL_PENS environment variable. If HPGL_VERSION is "1", the
default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black"; if HPGL_VERSION is
"1.5" or "2", the default value of HPGL_PENS is
"1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yellow:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan".
The format should be self-explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS
you may specify a color for any pen in the range #1...#31.
All color names recognized by the X Window System may be
used. Pen #1 must always be present, though it need not be
black. Any other pen in the range #1...#31 may be omitted.
If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then plot -T hpgl will also be
affected by the environment variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS. If
its value is "yes", then plot -T hpgl will not be restricted
to the palette specified in HPGL_PENS: it will assign colors
to "logical pens" in the range #1...#31, as needed. The
default value is "no" because other than color LaserJet
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GNU Plotting Utilities PLOT(1)
printers and DesignJet plotters, not many HP-GL/2 devices
allow the assignment of colors to logical pens.
Opaque filling and the drawing of visible white lines are
supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" and the environment
variable HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its
value is "no" then white lines (if any), which are normally
drawn with pen #0, will not be drawn. This feature is to
accommodate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2 pen plotters,
for example, do not support opacity or the use of pen #0 to
draw visible white lines. Some older HP-GL/2 devices may,
in fact, malfunction if asked to draw opaque objects.
plot -T tek, which produces output for a Tektronix terminal
or emulator, checks the TERM environment variable. If the
value of TERM is a string beginning with "xterm", "nxterm",
or "kterm", it is taken as a sign that plot is running in an
X Window System VT100 terminal emulator: a copy of xterm(1),
nxterm(1), or kterm(1). Before drawing graphics, plot -T
tek will emit an escape sequence that causes the terminal
emulator's auxiliary Tektronix window, which is normally
hidden, to pop up. After the graphics are drawn, an escape
sequence that returns control to the original VT100 window
will be emitted. The Tektronix window will remain on the
screen.
If the value of TERM is a string beginning with "kermit",
"ansi.sys", or "nansi.sys", it is taken as a sign that plot
is running in the VT100 terminal emulator provided by the
MS-DOS version of kermit(1). Before drawing graphics, plot
-T tek will emit an escape sequence that switches the termi-
nal emulator to Tektronix mode. Also, some of the Tektronix
control codes emitted by plot -T tek will be kermit-
specific. There will be a limited amount of color support,
which is not normally the case (the 16 `ansi.sys' colors
will be supported). After drawing graphics, plot -T tek
will emit an escape sequence that returns the emulator to
VT100 mode. The key sequence `ALT minus' can be employed
manually within kermit to switch between the two modes.
SEE ALSO
graph(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), plotfont(1), plot(3),
plot(5), and "The GNU Plotting Utilities Manual".
AUTHORS
plot was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.arizona.edu).
BUGS
Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.
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