XGRAPH

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The input format is similar to graph(1G) but differs slightly. The data consists of a number of data sets. Data sets are separated by a blank line. A new data set is also assumed at the start of each input file. A data set consists of an ordered list of points of the form "X Y". Each point must appear on a separate line. The name of a data set can be specified by a line which begins with a double quote followed by the set name. An example input file with three data sets is shown below (note set three is not named):

0.5 7.8
1.0 6.2
"set one
1.5 8.9

"set two
-3.4 1.4e-3
-2.0 1.9e-2
-0.65 2.2e-4

2.2 12.8
2.4 -3.3
2.6 -32.2
2.8 -10.3

After xgraph has read the data, it will create a new window to graphically display the data. The interface used to specify the size and location of this window depends on the window manager currently in use. Refer to the reference manual of the window manager for details.

Once the window has been opened, all of the data sets will be displayed graphically (subject to the options explained below) with a legend in the upper right corner of the screen. To zoom in on a portion of the graph, depress a mouse button in the window and sweep out a region. xgraph will then open a new window looking at just that portion of the graph. xgraph also presents two control buttons in the upper left corner of each window: Close and Hardcopy. Windows are closed by depressing a mouse button while the mouse cursor is inside the Close button. Typing EOF (control-D) in a window also closes that window. Depressing a mouse button while the mouse cursor is in the Harcopy button causes a dialog to appear asking about hardcopy (printout) options. These options are described below:

Output Device

Specifies the type of the output device (e.g. "HPGL", "Postscript", etc). An output device is chosen by depressing the mouse inside its name. The default values of other fields will change when you select a different output device.

Disposition

Specifies whether the output should go directly to a device or to a file. Again, the default values of other fields will change when you select a different disposition.

File or Device Name

If the disposition is "To Device", this field specifies the device name. A device name is the same as the name given for the -P command of lpr(1). If the disposition is "To File", this field specifies the name of the output file.

Maximum Dimension

This specifies the maximum size of the plot on the hardcopy device in centimeters. xgraph takes in account the aspect ratio of the plot on the screen and will scale the plot so that the longer side of the plot is no more than the value of this parameter. If the device supports it, the plot may also be rotated on the page based on the value of the maximum dimension.

Title Font Family

This field specifies the name of a font to use when drawing the graph title. Suitable defaults are initially chosen for any given hardcopy device. The value of this field is hardware specific -- refer to the device reference manual for details.

Title Font Size

This field specifies the desired size of the title fonts in points (1/72 of an inch). If the device supports scalable fonts, the font will be scaled to this size.

Axis Font Family and Axis Font Size

These fields are like Title Font Family and Title Font Size except they specify values for the font xgraph uses to draw axis labels, and legend descriptions.

Control Buttons

After specifing the parameters for the plot, the "Ok" button causes xgraph to produce a hardcopy. Pressing the "Cancel" button will abort the hardcopy operation.

xgraph accepts a large number of options most of which can be specified either on the command line or in the user's ~/.Xdefaults file. A list of these options is given below. The command line option is specified first with its X default name (if any) in parenthesis afterward. The format of the option in the X defaults file is "program.option: value" where program is the program name (xgraph) and the option name is the one specified below. Note that the value of a flag in the X defaults file must be "1".

-<digit> <name>

These options specify the data set name for the corresponding data set. The digit should be in the range '0' to '63'. This name will be used in the legend.

-b

Force xgraph to output the graph in black and white (even if the display is color). This is useful for those using xwd(1) to produce hardcopies of the graph.

-bar

Specifies that vertical bars should be drawn from the data points to a base point which can be specified with -brb. Usually, the -nl flag is used with this option. The point itself is located at the center of the bar.

-bb (BoundBox)

Draw a bounding box around the data region. This is very useful if you prefer to see tick marks rather than grid lines (see -tk).

-bd <color> (Border)

This specifies the border color of the xgraph window.

-bg <color> (Background)

Background color of the xgraph window.

-brb <base>

This specifies the base for a bar graph. By default, the base is zero.

-brw <width>

This specifies the width of bars in a bar graph. The amount is specified in the user's units. By default, a bar one pixel wide is drawn.

-bw <size> (BorderSize)

Border width (in pixels) of the xgraph window.

-fg <color> (Foreground)

Foreground color. This color is used to draw all text and the normal grid lines in the window.

-lf <fontname> (LabelFont)

Label font. All axis labels and grid labels are drawn using this font. It must be a fixed-width font.

-lnx

Specifies a logarithmic X axis. Grid labels represent powers of ten.

-lny

Specifies a logarithmic Y axis. Grid labels represent powers of ten.

-lw width

Specifies the width of the data lines in pixels. The default is one.

-lx <xl,xh>

This option limits the range of the X axis to the specified interval. This (along with -ly) can be used to "zoom in" on a particularly interesting portion of a larger graph.

-ly <yl,yh>

This option limits the range of the Y axis to the specified interval.

-m (Markers)

Mark each data point with a distinctive marker. There are eight distinctive markers used by xgraph. These markers are assigned uniquely to each different line style on black and white machines and varies with each color on color machines.

-M (StyleMarkers)

Similar to -m but markers are assigned uniquely to each eight consecutive data sets (this corresponds to each different line style on color machines).

-nl (NoLines)

Turn off drawing lines. When used with -m, this can be used to produce scatter plots. When used with -bar, it can be used to produce standard bar graphs.

-p (PixelMarkers, SmallPixels)

Marks each data point with a small marker (pixel sized). This is usually used with the -nl option for scatter plots.

-P (LargePixels)

Similar to -p but marks each pixel with a large dot.

-rv (ReverseVideo)

Reverse video. On black and white displays, this will invert the foreground and background colors. It does nothing on color displays.

-s (Spline)

This option specifies the lines should be drawn as spline curves. Currently, this is implemented using the X spline option which fits only three points at a time. Thus, the effect is not what you might expect.

-t <string>

Title of the plot. This string is centered at the top of the graph.

-tf <fontname> (TitleFont)

Title font. This is the name of the font to use for the graph title. It defaults to 9x15.

-tk (Ticks)

This option causes xgraph to draw tick marks rather than full grid lines. The -bb option is also useful when viewing graphs with tick marks only.

-x <unitname>

This is the unit name for the X axis. Its default is "X".

-y <unitname>

This is the unit name for the Y axis. Its default is "Y".

-zg <color> (ZeroColor)

This is the color used to draw the zero grid line.

Some options can only be specified in the X defaults file. These options are described below:

<digit>.Color

Specifies the color for a data set. Eight independent colors can be specified. Thus, the digit should be between '0' and '7'. If there are more than eight data sets, the colors will repeat but with a new line style (see below).

<digit>.Style

Specifies the line style for a data set. A sixteen-bit integer specifies the sixteen-bit pattern used for the line style. Eight independent line styles can be specified. Thus, the digit should be between '0' and '7'. If there are more than eight data sets, these styles will be reused. On color workstations, one line style is used for each of eight colors. Thus, 64 unique data sets can be displayed.

GridSize

Width, in pixels, of normal grid lines.

GridStyle

Line style pattern of normal grid lines.

ZeroSize

Width, in pixels, of the zero grid line.

ZeroStyle

Line style pattern of the zero grid line.

AUTHOR

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR