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Manual page for The(pl)
pl
SYNOPSIS
pl [scriptfile] [options] [var=value pairs]
DESCRIPTION
pl is a program that produces plots and charts.
pl interprets the
scriptfile
to create
data plots and graphs in PostScript, EPS, PNG, GIF, or X11 format.
For plots based on a table/list model, use
pltab
EXAMPLES
A large number of examples are provided in the ploticus gallery
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
The pl command line arguments may be given in any order.
-png
Produce PNG image file(s). See
web
for more info.
-gif
Produce psuedo-GIF image file(s). See
web
for more info.
-eps
Produce EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file(s).
-ps
Produce paginated PostScript.
By default, the PostScript code is written to standard output
where it may be piped to your print spooler or saved in a file.
-bwps
Same as -ps but with all color references converted to monochrome.
-x11
Display results interactively on an X11 workstation or X terminal.
-cm
Use centimeters as absolute units.
On the command line this must appear to the left of any arguments containing
absolute unit values, such as -pagesize.
If cm will always be the desired
absolute units, the preferred way to achieve this is by using
units: cm in a
ploticus config file.
-inches
Use inches as absolute units. This is the default.
-pagesize width,height
Control the size of the display window or image.
width and height are in absolute units.
Absolute location 0,0 is at the lower left corner.
This option may be used to control the size of the X11 display window
result. The default size is 8 inches wide by 8 inches high.
The resulting size is not influenced by the -scale option.
The size of PNG/GIF result images will be determined by the extent of the graphic;
however, -pagesize (or the proc page pagesize attribute) must be used
for PNG/GIF images that draw beyond (8.0,8.0) absolute (inch) coordinate,
in order to allocate enough image memory (otherwise the top or right areas of the graphic
will not be visible).
-pagesize has no effect with EPS or paginated PostScript results (the PostScript
BoundingBox will be determined by the extent of the graphic).
Example: -pagesize 7,3
-winloc x,y
Control where on the screen the upper-left corner of the X11 display
window will be placed. x and y are in pixels.
Example: -winloc 200 0
-stdin
Read script file from the standard input.
-o outfile | stdout
Specify a filename where the result will be written.
No processing is applied to this name.
If -o stdout is used,
result will be sent to standard output.
See also OUTPUT FILE NAMES below.
-v command
-viewer command
After generating results in the specified format, execute command
in order to view the results on your screen.
The output file will automatically be
included in the command. For example, if a GIF file is being
generated you might use this to invoke the xv utility: -viewer xv.
If PostScript is being generated you could use something like this to
invoke the ghostview utility: -viewer "gv -magstep -1".
The given command must be available on your system and locatable in
your command search path.
This option may not be used with -o stdout.
-scale sx[,sy]
Scale the final result.
If one value is given, the result is scaled by this amount in both x and y.
If two values are given, scaling in x and scaling in y may be done independently.
A scale value of less than 1.0 reduces the
size; an scale value of greater than 1.0 enlarges.
Scaling is done relative to the origin (0,0) which is at the lower left.
-posteroffset x,y
Allows production of large-size posters made up of multiple standard
sheets of paper butted together. May be used only with paginated PostScript,
and should be used in combination with the -scale and -textsize
options. x,y is the point within your result (in
absolute units
) that is to be placed at the lower left corner of the page.
For further discussion of this, see
posters
.
-landscape
For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to landscape (oblong).
-portrait
For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to portrait.
-tightcrop
For PNG, GIF or EPS output, crop the result tightly to the extent of
the design. Normally a small margin is allowed on all four sides.
This option sometimes crops a bit too tight; if so try -croprel.
-crop x1,y1,x2,y2
Crop PNG, GIF or EPS result to the box specified by
x1,y1 and x2,y2, in absolute units.
Note that there may be no spaces in the coordinates specification.
Cropping takes place after design is rendered and does not
affect coordinate locations.
-croprel left,bottom,right,top
Crop PNG, GIF or EPS result tightly to the extent of the design (like -tightcrop),
but then adjust the cropping outward or inward on one or more sides.
left is the amount to adjust the left side, in absolute units.
Similarly for bottom, right, and top.
Positive values always adjust outward from center; negative values adjust inward (tighter).
There may be no spaces in the left,bottom,right,top specification.
Cropping takes place after design is rendered and does not
affect coordinate locations.
-font font
sets the overall default font to font.
This PostScript font will be used as the base
font for the chart when rendering in Postscript (default is /Helvetica).
Usually these fonts are available: /Helvetica /Helvica-Oblique /Helvetica-Bold
/Helvetica-BoldOblique /Times-Roman /Times-Bold
-textsize pointsize
sets the overall default textsize to pointsize.
All embedded size specifications will be rendered relative to this.
-linewidth w
sets the overall default linewidth to w.
All embedded line width specifications will be rendered relative to this.
See linedetails(pli) for more on line width.
-color color
sets the overall default text and line drawing color to color.
-backcolor color
sets the background color to color.
-id
Display an identifier in the lower-left corner of full page output
that shows user name, current directory, input script/table file,
date, and time. Currently available on Solaris 2.x only.
-noid
Suppress the identifier in the lower-left corner of full page.
-debug
Debug mode; extra dianostic information produced and
temporary files not cleaned up upon termination.
-showbad
Identify unplottable data, showing the value, and its row and field.
-diagfile filename | stderr | stdout
All non-error messages and output will be written to this file (default is stderr).
-errfile filename | stderr | stdout
All error messages will be written to this file (default is stderr).
-help or -? or -version
Print version number, copyright info, web site address, etc.
var=value pairs
Any argument on the command line that contains an embedded equals-sign
(=) is taken as a var-value pair. A var-value pair declares the named
variable and sets it to the given value. The variable may then be
used within the script file. For example: CUTDATE=10-31-98
would declare the variable CUTDATE and set it to 10-31-98.
Variable names are case-sensitive.
OUTPUT FILE NAMES
The output file may be specified on the command line using the -o option,
or via Proc Page's outfilename attribute.
If so, the Postscript, PNG, or GIF result is written to a file of that name.
-o stdout may also be used to send result to standard output.
Otherwise the output file name depends on the type of output being generated.
If it is paginated Postscript then it is written to standard output, for
convenient piping to your print spooler.
For PNG, GIF and EPS: if
the ploticus script file ends in .p, .pl,
.pls, .htm or .html, the
base part of the script file name is used and .png, .gif or .eps
is appended. For other script file names the names out.png, out.gif or out.eps will be used.
X11 output is always displayed on the screen.
If page breaks (Proc Page) are encountered when rendering PNG, GIF or EPS,
special action is necessary, since each page must go into a separate file.
A Proc Page outfilename should be specified for each page;
otherwise a pn prefix will be attached to the beginning of
each page's output file name to indicate page n.
USAGE EXAMPLES
Suppose you have a script file called lineplot1.p.
You can view the graph using pl in one of the
forms below:
pl -x lineplot1.p = view on X11 screen
pl -png lineplot1.p = create PNG image lineplot1.png
pl -gif lineplot1.p -o stdout = create GIF image on standard output
pl -gif lineplot1.p -viewer xv = produce GIF and view using xv
(assuming xv image viewer is available on your system).
pl -eps lineplot1.p = produce EPS file lineplot1.eps
pl -eps lineplot1.p -viewer gv = produce EPS and view using gv
(that's ghostview, assuming it is available on your system).
pl -eps lineplot1.p -o lineplot.eps = produce EPS into file lineplot.eps
pl -ps lineplot1.p | lp = produce paginated postscript and send to
unix lp print spooler.
pl -ps lineplot1.p -veiwer gv = produce paginated postscript
and view using ghostview.
ENVIRONMENT
PLOTICUS_CONFIG
The name of a ploticus configuation file, for setting default date notations, number
notations, measurement units, etc. See
config
for details.
LC_CTYPE, LC_COLLATE, LANG
Locale support. Thanks to Oleg Bartunov oleg@sai.msu.su
for contributing this. pl and pltab must be
built with -DLOCALE for this to work.
AUTHOR
Stephen C. Grubb
SEE ALSO
ploticus(1), www.sgpr.net
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 data display engine
Copyright Steve Grubb
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