GNU Info

(gnuplot.info)Syntax

---

Next: Time/Date data Prev: Substitution Up: gnuplot

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

 The general rules of syntax and punctuation in `gnuplot` (Note: gnuplot )
 are that keywords and options are order-dependent.  Options and any
 accompanying parameters are separated by spaces whereas lists and coordinates
 are separated by commas. Ranges are separated by colons and enclosed in
 brackets [], text and file names are enclosed in quotes, and a few
 miscellaneous things are enclosed in parentheses.  Braces {} are used for a
 few special purposes.

 Commas are used to separate coordinates on the `set` (Note: set-show )
 commands  `arrow` (Note: arrow ), `key` (Note: key ), and  `label`
 (Note: label ); the list of variables being fitted (the list after the `via`
 keyword on the `fit` (Note: fit ) command); lists of discrete contours or
 the loop parameters which specify them on the `set cntrparam`
 (Note: cntrparam ) command; the arguments of the `set` commands `dgrid3d`
 (Note: dgrid3d ),  `dummy` (Note: dummy ),  `isosamples`
 (Note: isosamples ),  `offsets` (Note: offsets ),  `origin`
 (Note: origin ), `samples` (Note: samples ),  `size` (Note: size ),
 time, and nd `view` (Note: view ); lists of tics or the loop parameters
 which specify them; the offsets for titles and axis labels; parametric
 functions to be used to calculate the x, y, and z coordinates on the `plot`
 (Note: plot ), `replot` (Note: replot ) and  `splot` (Note: splot )
 commands; and the complete sets of keywords specifying individual plots (data
 sets or functions) on the `plot`, `replot` and `splot` commands.

 Parentheses are used to delimit sets of explicit tics (as opposed to loop
 parameters) and to indicate computations in the `using` (Note: using )
 filter of the fit, `plot`, `replot` and `splot` commands.

 (Parentheses and commas are also used as usual in function notation.)

 Brackets are used to delimit ranges, whether they are given on `set`, `plot`
 or `splot` commands.

 Colons are used to separate extrema in `range` specifications (whether they
 are given on `set`, `plot` or `splot` commands) and to separate entries in
 the `using` filter of the `plot`, `replot`, `splot` and `fit` commands.

 Semicolons are used to separate commands given on a single command line.

 Braces are used in text to be specially processed by some terminals, like
 `postscript` (Note: postscript ).  They are also used to denote complex
 numbers: {3,2} = 3 + 2i.

 Text may be enclosed in single- or double-quotes.  Backslash processing of
 sequences like \n (newline) and \345 (octal character code) is performed for
 double-quoted strings, but not for single-quoted strings.

 The justification is the same for each line of a multi-line string.  Thus the
 center-justified string
       "This is the first line of text.\nThis is the second line."
 will produce
                        This is the first line of text.
                           This is the second line.
 but
       'This is the first line of text.\nThis is the second line.'
 will produce
           This is the first line of text.\nThis is the second line.

 Filenames may be entered with either single- or double-quotes.  In this
 manual the command examples generally single-quote filenames and double-quote
 other string tokens for clarity.

 At present you should not embed \n inside {} when using the enhanced option
 of the postscript terminal.

 The EEPIC, Imagen, Uniplex, LaTeX, and TPIC drivers allow a newline to be
 specified by \\ in a single-quoted string or \\\\ in a double-quoted string.

 Back-quotes are used to enclose system commands for substitution.