Scientific Computing & Visualization | Documentation | Software Help | Plotting

This Site

Gnuplot Basics

Description

Gnuplot is an interactive command-driven plotting package capable of producing line graphs, parametric plots, contour plots and surface plots. Additional options allow polar plots, log axes, error bars and control over labeling. Data may be read from files and/or produced or modified using C operators, C library functions or other methods. Plots may be displayed on dumb terminals, in X windows or saved as PostScript. An on-line help facility is included with Gnuplot
Highlights: Flexible, programming style interface. Output images are not of the highest quality.

Availability and Setup

Gnuplot is available on all of the SCV supported machines (and ACS and most other BU machines as well).

To run Gnuplot, set your DISPLAY variable and then simply type:

cgl% gnuplot

When you are done you can exit gnuplot by typing exit, quit or just q

Using Gnuplot

Gnuplot is a very versatile package, but in order to use it you must learn its command-line syntax. Use the online help facilities and the manuals we have to help you and experiment with producing different plots. For a simple example, type:

gnuplot> set samples 50
gnuplot> plot [-10:10] sin(x), atan(x), cos(atan(x))

Additional Help/Documentation

What hardcopy documentation we have is available in the Computer Graphics Lab (Room 203, 111 Cummington Street, lab hours and access). For Gnuplot, the available manuals are Gnuplot: An interactive Plotting Program (for version 3.5) and Gnuplot Quick Reference.

There are vast online help facilities for Gnuplot. Within Gnuplot, simply type help to get general information and a list of commands you can get more detailed information on. On the WWW, see Gnuplot Central which includes the Gnuplot FAQ and lots of additional information and links. There is also a manpage for gnuplot. There is also an amazingly comprehensive tutorial.

Document Name: gnuplot
Author/Maintainer: Aaron D. Fuegi (aarondf@bu.edu)
Executable: /usr/local/bin/gnuplot
Keywords: gnuplot, plotting, plot, graph
Machines List: IBM p655, Linux Cluster, CGL Cluster, ACS Cluster
Related Man Pages: gnuplot
Created June 9, 1995; Last Revised August 28, 2002; Last Modified June 2, 2009
URL of this document: http://scv.bu.edu/documentation/software-help/plotting/gnuplot.html
Go up to SCV Software Packages

OIT | CCS | June 2, 2009