Using Gnuplot Numerical Methods, MAT 350 Brett van de Sande, Autumn 2001

Numerical Methods, MAT 350
Autumn 2001

Using Gnuplot

Gnuplot is a command-line driven interactive function plotting utility. To start the program, type the command gnuplot in an XTerm window. Here is a list of example commands to get you started:

Here is a simple plot command:

gnuplot> plot [0:1] sin(x)**2  # Plot sin(x) squared in the domain [0,1].

Add a plot of the contents of the file "junk.out" to this graph:
```
gnuplot> replot "junk.out"
```
The file "junk.out" should have two columns containing the x and y values of the points.

Getting help on various commands:

gnuplot> help plot                  # Get help for the command "plot."

Plotting your graph to the printer or a file:

gnuplot> plot "junk.out"            # plot graph to screen
gnuplot> set terminal postscript    # make Postcript output
Terminal type set to 'postscript'   
Options are 'landscape noenhanced monochrome dashed defaultplex "Helvetica" 14'
gnuplot> set output "| lpr"
gnuplot> replot                     # send plot to printer 
gnuplot> set output "junk.ps"
gnuplot> replot                     # send plot to file "junk.ps"
gnuplot> set terminal x11           # set plotting device back to X-windows 
gnuplot>

You could print the file "junk.ps" later using the shell command lpr junk.ps.

More information can be found at The Gnuplot home page

Numerical Methods, MAT 350Autumn 2001

Using Gnuplot

Numerical Methods, MAT 350
Autumn 2001