Next: Gnuplot Options, Previous: Functions and Variables for Plotting, Up: Plotting [Contents][Index]
All options consist of a list starting with one of the keywords in this
section, followed by one or more values. If the option appears inside
one of the plotting commands, its value will be local for that
command. It the option is given as argument to
set_plot_option, its value will be global and used in all
plots, unless it is overridden by a local value.
Some of the options may have different effects in different plotting
commands as it will be pointed out in the following list. The options
that accept among their possible values true or false, can also be set
to true by simply writing their names, and false by writing their names
with the prefix no. For instance, typing logx as an option is
equivalent to writing [logx, true] and nobox is equivalent
to [box, false]. When just the name of the option is used for an
option which cannot have a value true, it means that any value
previously assigned to that option will be removed, leaving it to the
graphic program to decide what to do.
Default value: 5
The maximum number of splittings used by the adaptive plotting routine
of plot2d; integer must be a non-negative integer. A value
of zero means that adaptive plotting will not be used and the resulting
plot will have 1+4*nticks points (see option nticks). To
have more control on the number of points and their positions, a list of
points can be created and then plotted using the discrete method
of plot2d.
Default value: true
Where symbol can be either true, false, x,
y or solid. If false, no axes are shown; if equal
to x or y only the x or y axis will be shown; if it is
equal to true, both axes will be shown and solid will show
the two axes with a solid line, rather than the default broken
line. This option does not have any effect in the 3 dimensional plots.
The single keywords axes and noaxes can be used as
synonyms for [axes, true] and [axes, false].
Default value: 30
A plot3d plot can be thought of as starting with the x and y axis in the
horizontal and vertical axis, as in plot2d, and the z axis coming out of
the screen. The z axis is then rotated around the x axis through an
angle equal to elevation and then the new xy plane is rotated
around the new z axis through an angle azimuth. This option sets
the value for the azimuth, in degrees.
See also elevation.
Default value: true
If set to true, a bounding box will be drawn for the plot; if set
to false, no box will be drawn.
The single keywords box and nobox can be used as
synonyms for [box, true] and [box, false].
In 2d plots it defines the color (or colors) for the various curves. In
plot3d, it defines the colors used for the mesh lines of the
surfaces, when no palette is being used.
If there are more curves or surfaces than colors, the colors will be
repeated in sequence. The valid colors are red, green,
blue, magenta, cyan, yellow, orange,
violet, brown, gray, black, white, or
a string starting with the character # and followed by six hexadecimal
digits: two for the red component, two for green component and two for
the blue component. If the name of a given color is unknown color, black
will be used instead.
Default value: false in plot3d, true in mandelbrot and julia
Where symbol can be either true or false. If
true, whenever plot3d, mandelbrot or
julia use a palette to represent different values, a box will be
shown on the right, showing the corresponding between colors and values.
The single keywords color_bar and nocolor_bar can be used
as synonyms for [color_bar, true] and [color_bar, false].
Defines the values at which a mark and a number will be placed in the
color bar. The first number is the initial value, the second the
increments and the third is the last value where a mark is placed. The
second and third numbers can be omitted. When only one number is given,
it will be used as the increment from an initial value that will be
chosen automatically. The single keyword color_bar_tics removes a
value given previously, making the graphic program use its default for
the values of the tics and nocolor_bar_tics will not show any
tics on the color bar.
Default value: 60
A plot3d plot can be thought of as starting with the x and y axis in the
horizontal and vertical axis, as in plot2d, and the z axis coming out of
the screen. The z axis is then rotated around the x axis through an
angle equal to elevation and then the new xy plane is rotated
around the new z axis through an angle azimuth. This option sets
the value for the elevation, in degrees.
See also azimuth.
Default value: 30, 30
Sets the number of grid points to use in the x- and y-directions for
three-dimensional plotting or for the julia and mandelbrot
programs.
For a way to actually draw a grid See grid2d.
Default value: false
Shows a grid of lines on the xy plane. The points where the grid lines
are placed are the same points where tics are marked in the x and y
axes, which can be controlled with the xtics and ytics
options. The single keywords grid2d and nogrid2d can be
used as synonyms for [grid2d, true] and [grid2d, false].
See also grid.
Default value: 9
Number of iterations made by the programs mandelbrot and julia.
Writes one or several labels in the points with x, y coordinates indicated after each label.
It specifies the labels for the plots when various plots are shown. If
there are more plots than the number of labels given, they will be
repeated. If given the value false, no legends will be shown.
By default, the names of the expressions or functions will be used, or
the words discrete1, discrete2, …, for discrete sets of points.
The single keyword legend removes any previously defined legends,
leaving it to the plotting program to set up a legend. The keyword
nolegend is a synonym for [legend, false].
This option is used by plot2d to do contour plots. If only one
number is given after the keyword levels, it must be a natural
number; plot2d will try to plot that number of contours with
values between the minimum and maximum value of the expression given,
with the form d*10^n, where d is either 1, 2 or 5. Since not always it will
be possible to find that number of levels in that interval, the number of
contour lines show will be smaller than the number specified by this
option.
If more than one number are given after the keyword levels,
plot2d. will show the contour lines corresponding to those
values of the expression plotted, if they exist within the domain used.
Default value: false
Makes the horizontal axes to be scaled logarithmically. It can be either
true or false. The single keywords logx and nologx can be
used as synonyms for [logx, true] and [logx, false].
Default value: false
Makes the vertical axes to be scaled logarithmically. It can be either
true or false.
The single keywords logy and nology can be used as
synonyms for [logy, true] and [logy, false].
Default value: black
It sets the color used by plot3d to draw the mesh lines, when a palette
is being used. It accepts the same colors as for the option
color (see the list of allowed colors in color). It
can also be given a value false to eliminate completely the mesh
lines. The single keyword mesh_lines_color removes any previously
defined colors, leaving it to the graphic program to decide what color
to use. The keyword no_mesh_lines is a synonym for
[mesh_lines_color, false]
Default value: 29
When plotting functions with plot2d, it is gives the initial
number of points used by the adaptive plotting routine for plotting
functions. When plotting parametric functions with plot3d,
it sets the number of points that will be shown for the plot.
It can consist of one palette or a list of several palettes. Each palette is a list with a keyword followed by values. If the keyword is gradient, it should be followed by a list of valid colors.
If the keyword is hue, saturation or value, it must be followed by 4 numbers. The first three numbers, which must be between 0 and 1, define the hue, saturation and value of a basic color to be assigned to the minimum value of z. The keyword specifies which of the three attributes (hue, saturation or value) will be increased according to the values of z. The last number indicates the increase corresponding to the maximum value of z. That last number can be bigger than 1 or negative; the corresponding values of the modified attribute will be rounded modulo 1.
Gnuplot only uses the first palette in the list; xmaxima will use the palettes in the list sequentially, when several surfaces are plotted together; if the number of palettes is exhausted, they will be repeated sequentially.
The color of the mesh lines will be given by the option
mesh_lines_color. If palette is given the value
false, the surfaces will not be shaded but represented with a
mesh of curves only. In that case, the colors of the lines will be
determined by the option color.
The single keyword palette removes any palette previously
defined, leaving it to the graphic program to decide the palette to use
and nopalette is a synonym for [palette, false].
Default value: 1e-6
This value is used by plot2d when plotting implicit functions or
contour lines. When plotting an explicit function expr_1=expr_2,
it is converted into expr_1-expr_2 and the points where that equals
zero are searched. When a contour line for expr equal to some value
is going to be plotted, the points where expr minus that value
are equal to zero are searched. The search is done by computing those
expressions at a grid of points (see sample). If at one of the
points in that grid the absolute value of the expression is less than
the value of plotepsilon, it will be assumed to be zero, and
therefore, as being part of the curve to be plotted.
Default value: gnuplot, in Windows systems, or gnuplot_pipes in
other systems.
Where format is one of the following: gnuplot, xmaxima, mgnuplot, gnuplot_pipes or geomview.
It sets the format to be used for plotting as explained in
Plotting Formats.
Default value: false
If set to true, the functions to be plotted will be considered as
complex functions whose real value should be plotted; this is equivalent
to plotting realpart(function). If set to false,
nothing will be plotted when the function does not give a real value.
For instance, when x is negative, log(x) gives a complex
value, with real value equal to log(abs(x)); if
plot_realpart were true, log(-5) would be plotted
as log(5), while nothing would be plotted if plot_realpart
were false. The single keyword plot_realpart can be used
as a synonym for [plot_realpart, true] and noplot_realpart
is a synonym for [plot_realpart, false].
In gnuplot, each set of points to be plotted with the style “points”
or “linespoints” will be represented with objects taken from this
list, in sequential order. If there are more sets of points than objects
in this list, they will be repeated sequentially.
The possible objects that can be used are: bullet, circle,
plus, times, asterisk, box, square,
triangle, delta, wedge, nabla, diamond,
lozenge.
Saves the plot into a PDF file with name equal to file_name,
rather than showing it in the screen. By default, the file will be
created in the directory defined by the variable
maxima_tempdir, unless file_name contains the character
“/”, in which case it will be assumed to contain the complete path where
the file should be created. The value of maxima_tempdir can be changed
to save the file in a different directory. When the option
gnuplot_pdf_term_command is also given, it will be used to set up
Gnuplot’s PDF terminal; otherwise, Gnuplot’s pdfcairo terminal
will be used with solid colored lines of width 3, plot
size of 17.2 cm by 12.9 cm and font of 18 points.
Saves the plot into a PNG graphics file with name equal to file_name,
rather than showing it in the screen. By default, the file will be
created in the directory defined by the variable
maxima_tempdir, unless file_name contains the character
“/”, in which case it will be assumed to contain the complete path where
the file should be created. The value of maxima_tempdir can be changed
to save the file in a different directory. When the option
gnuplot_png_term_command is also given, it will be used to set up
Gnuplot’s PNG terminal; otherwise, Gnuplot’s pngcairo terminal
will be used, with a font of size 12.
Saves the plot into a Postscript file with name equal to file_name,
rather than showing it in the screen. By default, the file will be
created in the directory defined by the variable
maxima_tempdir, unless file_name contains the character
“/”, in which case it will be assumed to contain the complete path where
the file should be created. The value of maxima_tempdir can be changed
to save the file in a different directory. When the option
gnuplot_ps_term_command is also given, it will be used to set up
Gnuplot’s Postscript terminal; otherwise, Gnuplot’s postscript terminal
will be used with the EPS option, solid colored lines of width 2, plot
size of 16.4 cm by 12.3 cm and font of 24 points.
Default value: true
This option is only used when the plot format is gnuplot and the
terminal is default or when the Gnuplot terminal is set to
dumb (see gnuplot_term) and can have a true or false
value.
If the terminal is default, a file maxout_xxx.gnuplot (or
other name specified with gnuplot_out_file) is created with the
gnuplot commands necessary to generate the plot. Option run_viewer
controls whether or not Gnuplot will be launched to execute those
commands and show the plot.
If the terminal is default, gnuplot is run to execute the
commands in maxout_xxx.gnuplot, producing another file
maxplot.txt (or other name specified with
gnuplot_out_file). Option run_viewer controls whether or
not that file, with an ASCII representation of the plot, will be shown
in the Maxima or Xmaxima console.
Its default value, true, makes the plots appear in either the console or
a separate graphics window. run_viewer and norun_viewer
are synonyms for [run_viewer, true] and [run_viewer,
false].
It can be either true or false. If true, the scales used in the x and y
axes will be the same, in either 2d or 3d plots. See also
yx_ratio. same_xy and nosame_xy are synonyms for
[same_xy, true] and [same_xy, false].
It can be either true or false. If true, the scales used in the 3 axes
of a 3d plot will be the same. same_xyz and nosame_xyz are
synonyms for [same_xyz, true] and [same_xyz, false].
Default value: [sample, 50, 50]
nx and ny must be two natural numbers that will be used by
plot2d to look for the points that make part of the plot of an
implicit function or a contour line. The domain is divided into nx
intervals in the horizontal axis and ny intervals in the vertical
axis and the numerical value of the expression is computed at the
borders of those intervals. Higher values of nx and ny will
give smoother curves, but will increase the time needed to trace the
plot. When there are critical points in the plot where the curve changes
direction, to get better results it is more important to try to make
those points to be at the border of the intervals, rather than
increasing nx and ny.
The styles that will be used for the various functions or sets of data in a 2d plot. The word style must be followed by one or more styles. If there are more functions and data sets than the styles given, the styles will be repeated. Each style can be either lines for line segments, points for isolated points, linespoints for segments and points, or dots for small isolated dots. Gnuplot accepts also an impulses style.
Each of the styles can be enclosed inside a list with some additional parameters. lines accepts one or two numbers: the width of the line and an integer that identifies a color. The default color codes are: 1: blue, 2: red, 3: magenta, 4: orange, 5: brown, 6: lime and 7: aqua. If you use Gnuplot with a terminal different than X11, those colors might be different; for example, if you use the option [gnuplot_term, ps], color index 4 will correspond to black, instead of orange.
points accepts one two or three parameters; the first parameter is the radius of the points, the second parameter is an integer that selects the color, using the same code used for lines and the third parameter is currently used only by Gnuplot and it corresponds to several objects instead of points. The default types of objects are: 1: filled circles, 2: open circles, 3: plus signs, 4: x, 5: *, 6: filled squares, 7: open squares, 8: filled triangles, 9: open triangles, 10: filled inverted triangles, 11: open inverted triangles, 12: filled lozenges and 13: open lozenges.
linespoints accepts up to four parameters: line width, points radius, color and type of object to replace the points.
See also color and point_type.
Saves the plot into an SVG file with name equal to file_name,
rather than showing it in the screen. By default, the file will be
created in the directory defined by the variable
maxima_tempdir, unless file_name contains the character
“/”, in which case it will be assumed to contain the complete path where
the file should be created. The value of maxima_tempdir can be changed
to save the file in a different directory. When the option
gnuplot_svg_term_command is also given, it will be used to set up
Gnuplot’s SVG terminal; otherwise, Gnuplot’s svg terminal
will be used with font of 14 points.
Defines a title that will be written at the top of the plot.
Where symbol is either false or the result obtained by
using the function transform_xy. If different from false,
it will be used to transform the 3 coordinates in
plot3d. notransform_xy removes any transformation function
previously defined.
See make_transform, polar_to_xy and
spherical_to_xyz.
Opens the plot in window number n, instead of the default window 0. If window number n is already opened, the plot in that window will be replaced by the current plot.
When used as the first option in a plot2d command (or any of the
first two in plot3d), it indicates that the first independent variable
is x and it sets its range. It can also be used again after the first
option (or after the second option in plot3d) to define the effective
horizontal domain that will be shown in the plot.
Specifies the string that will label the first axis; if this
option is not used, that label will be the name of the independent
variable, when plotting functions with plot2d the name of the
first variable, when plotting surfaces with plot3d, or the first
expression in the case of a parametric plot.
false], xtics, noxtics ¶Defines the values at which a mark and a number will be placed in the x
axis. The first number is the initial value, the second the increments
and the third is the last value where a mark is placed. The second and
third numbers can be omitted, in which case the first number is the
increment from an initial value that will be chosen by the graphic
program. If [xtics, false] is used, no marks or numbers will be
shown along the x axis.
The single keyword xtics removes any values previously
defined, leaving it to the graphic program to decide the values to use
and noxtics is a synonym for [xtics, false]
In a 2d plot, it defines the ratio of the total size of the Window to the size that will be used for the plot. The two numbers given as arguments are the scale factors for the x and y axes.
This option does not change the size of the graphic window or the placement
of the graph in the window. If you want to change the aspect ratio of the
plot, it is better to use option yx_ratio. For instance,
[yx_ratio, 10] instead of [xy_scale, 0.1, 1].
When used as one of the first two options in plot3d, it indicates
that one of the independent variables is y and it sets its range. Otherwise,
it defines the effective domain of the second variable that will be
shown in the plot.
Specifies the string that will label the second axis; if this
option is not used, that label will be “y”, when plotting explicit
functions with plot2d, or the name of the second variable, when
plotting surfaces with plot3d, or the second expression in the
case of a parametric plot.
false], ytics, noytics ¶Defines the values at which a mark and a number will be placed in the y
axis. The first number is the initial value, the second the increments
and the third is the last value where a mark is placed. The second and
third numbers can be omitted, in which case the first number is the
increment from an initial value that will be chosen by the graphic
program. If [ytics, false] is used, no marks or numbers will be
shown along the y axis.
The single keyword ytics removes any values previously
defined, leaving it to the graphic program to decide the values to use
and noytics is a synonym for [ytics, false]
In a 2d plot, the ratio between the vertical and the horizontal sides of
the rectangle used to make the plot. See also same_xy.
Used in plot3d to set the effective range of values of z that will be
shown in the plot.
Specifies the string that will label the third axis, when using
plot3d. If this option is not used, that label will be “z”, when
plotting surfaces, or the third expression in the case of a parametric
plot. It can not be used with set_plot_option and it will be
ignored by plot2d.
In 3d plots, the value of z that will be at the bottom of the plot box.
The single keyword zmin removes any value previously
defined, leaving it to the graphic program to decide the value to use.
false], ztics, noztics ¶Defines the values at which a mark and a number will be placed in the z
axis. The first number is the initial value, the second the increments
and the third is the last value where a mark is placed. The second and
third numbers can be omitted, in which case the first number is the
increment from an initial value that will be chosen by the graphic
program. If [ztics, false] is used, no marks or numbers will be
shown along the z axis.
The single keyword ztics removes any values previously
defined, leaving it to the graphic program to decide the values to use
and noztics is a synonym for [ztics, false]
Next: Gnuplot Options, Previous: Functions and Variables for Plotting, Up: Plotting [Contents][Index]