Pyxplot Users’ Guide
A Scientific Scripting Language,
Graph Plotting Suite and
Vector Graphics Toolkit.
Version 0.9.2
Lead Developer: Dominic Ford
Lead Tester: Ross Church
Email:
coders@pyxplot.org.uk
September 2012
1 Introduction to Pyxplot
1 Introduction
1.1 What is Pyxplot?
1.2 Compatibility with gnuplot
1.3 The structure of this manual
1.4 An introductory tour
1.5 License
1.6 Spelling conventions
1.7 Acknowledgments
2 Installation
2.1 Installation within Linux distributions
2.2 System requirements
2.3 Installation from source archive
3 First steps with Pyxplot
3.1 Getting started
3.2 First plots
3.3 Comments
3.4 Splitting long commands
3.5 Printing text
3.6 Axis labels and titles
3.7 Querying the values of settings
3.8 Plotting data files
3.9 Plotting many data files at once
3.10 The
replot
command
3.11 Directing where output goes
3.12 Setting the size of output
3.13 Plotting styles
3.14 Setting axis ranges
3.15 Interactive help
4 Performing calculations
4.1 Variables
4.2 Physical constants
4.3 Functions
4.4 Handling numerical errors
4.5 Working with complex numbers
4.6 Working with physical units
4.7 Configuring how numbers are displayed
4.8 Numerical integration and differentiation
4.9 Solving systems of equations
4.10 Searching for minima and maxima of functions
4.11 Working with time-series data
5 Working with data
5.1 Input filters
5.2 Reading data from a pipe
5.3 Including data within command scripts
5.4 Special comment lines in data files
5.5 Tabulating functions and slicing data files
5.6 Function fitting
5.7 Datafile interpolation
5.8 Fourier transforms
5.9 Histograms
5.10 Random data generation
6 Programming: Pyxplot’s data types
6.1 Instantiating objects
6.2 Strings
6.3 Lists
6.4 Dictionaries
6.5 Vectors and matrices
6.6 Colors
6.7 Dates
6.8 Modules and classes
6.9 File handles
7 Programming: flow control
7.1 Conditionals
7.2 For loops
7.3 Foreach loops
7.4 Foreach datum loops
7.5 While and do loops
7.6 The
break
and
continue
statements
7.7 The conditional operator
7.8 Subroutines
7.9 Macros
7.10 The
exec
command
7.11 Assertions
7.12 Raising exceptions
7.13 Shell commands
7.14 Script watching: pyxplot_watch
2 Plotting and vector graphics
8 Plotting: a complete guide
8.1 The
with
modifier
8.2 Pyxplot’s plot styles
8.3 Labelling datapoints
8.4 The
style
keyword
8.5 Plotting functions in exotic styles
8.6 Plotting parametric functions
8.7 Graph legends
8.8 Configuring axes
8.9 Gridlines
8.10 Clipping behaviour
8.11 Labelling graphs
8.12 Color maps
8.13 Contour maps
8.14 Three-dimensional plotting
9 Producing image files
9.1 The
set terminal
command
9.2 The default terminal
9.3 PostScript output
9.4 Backing up over-written files
9.5 Changing font
10 Producing vector graphics
10.1 Adding other vector graphics objects
10.2 Multiplot mode
10.3 The
text
command
10.4 The
arrow
and
line
commands
10.5 Editing items on the canvas
10.6 Linked axes and galleries of plots
10.7 The
polygon
command
10.8 The
image
command
10.9 The
eps
command
10.10 The
box
and
circle
commands
10.11 The
arc
command
10.12 The
point
command
10.13 The
ellipse
command
10.14 The
piechart
command
10.15 LaTeX and Pyxplot
3 Reference manual
11 Command reference
11.1 ?
11.2 !
11.3 arc
11.4 arrow
11.5 assert
11.6 box
11.7 break
11.8 call
11.9 cd
11.10 circle
11.11 clear
11.12 continue
11.13 delete
11.14 do
11.15 ellipse
11.16 else
11.17 eps
11.18 exec
11.19 exit
11.20 fft
11.21 fit
11.22 for
11.23 foreach
11.24 foreach datum
11.25 global
11.26 help
11.27 histogram
11.28 history
11.29 if
11.30 ifft
11.31 image
11.32 interpolate
11.33 jpeg
11.34 let
11.35 list
11.36 load
11.37 local
11.38 maximize
11.39 minimize
11.40 move
11.41 piechart
11.42 plot
11.43 point
11.44 print
11.45 pwd
11.46 quit
11.47 rectangle
11.48 refresh
11.49 replot
11.50 reset
11.51 save
11.52 set
11.53 show
11.54 solve
11.55 spline
11.56 swap
11.57 tabulate
11.58 text
11.59 undelete
11.60 unset
11.61 while
12 List of in-built functions
12.1 The
ast
module
12.2 The
colors
module
12.3 The
exceptions
module
12.4 The
fractals
module
12.5 The
os
module
12.6 The
os.path
module
12.7 The
phy
module
12.8 The
random
module
12.9 The
stats
module
12.10 The
time
module
12.11 The
types
module
13 List of data types
13.1 Methods common to all data types
13.2 The
boolean
type
13.3 The
color
type
13.4 The
date
type
13.5 The
dictionary
type
13.6 The
exception
type
13.7 The
fileHandle
type
13.8 The
function
type
13.9 The
instance
type
13.10 The
list
type
13.11 The
matrix
type
13.12 The
module
type
13.13 The
null
type
13.14 The
number
type
13.15 The
string
type
13.16 The
type
type
13.17 The
vector
type
14 List of physical constants
15 List of physical units
16 List of paper sizes
17 Color tables
18 Line and point types
19 Configuring Pyxplot
19.1 Configuration files
19.2 An example configuration file
19.3 Setting definitions
19.4 Recognised color names
4 Appendices
A Other applications of Pyxplot
A.1 Conversion of jpeg images to PostScript
A.2 Inserting equations in Powerpoint presentations
A.3 Delivering talks in Pyxplot
B Summary of differences between Pyxplot and gnuplot
B.1 The typesetting of text
B.2 Complex numbers
B.3 The multiplot environment
B.4 Plots with multiple axes
B.5 Plotting parametric functions
C The
fit
command: mathematical details
C.1 Notation
C.2 The probability density function
C.3 Estimating the error in
C.4 The covariance matrix
C.5 The correlation matrix
C.6 Finding
D ChangeLog
2012 Sep 19: Pyxplot 0.9.2
2012 Aug 29: Pyxplot 0.9.1
2012 Aug 1: Pyxplot 0.9.0
2011 Jan 7: Pyxplot 0.8.4
2010 Sep 15: Pyxplot 0.8.3
2010 Aug 4: Pyxplot 0.8.2
2010 Jun 1: Pyxplot 0.8.1
2010 May 19: Pyxplot 0.8.0
2009 Nov 17: Pyxplot 0.7.1
2008 Oct 14: Pyxplot 0.7.0
2007 Feb 26: Pyxplot 0.6.3
2006 Sep 09: Pyxplot 0.5.8
E Index