xpplot(1) xpplot(1)
August 19, 1993
NAME
xpplot - a simple tool to plot Your data in X-Windows
SYNOPSIS
xpplot [options] [files]
DESCRIPTION
INPUT DATA FORMAT
text files containing values separated by blanks (space,new-line,tab)
ARGUMENTS
It takes one or two arguments - the names of files with Your data to
be plotted.
When called
- with one argument,
xpplot plots each value from the input file along y axes against
its number along x axes.
- with two arguments,
xpplot plots Yn versus Xn, taking Xn from the first file and
Yn from the second file.
- otherwise
it prints a little help
try xpplot -h for more help
(You can use a little script to separate columns from a multi-column
data file : awk '{print $2}' to extract the 2nd column for example
or You can use the command paste to combine them back together.)
FEATURES
You can
- see a detail by zoom using mouse
- unzoom
- get back the original settings
- make the picture sleep for large reconfiguration
and make it wake up then back again
- make a Hardcopy to a PostScript file
( which can be inserted to a TeX document e.g.
by PSBOX by Jean Orloff)
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xpplot(1) xpplot(1)
August 19, 1993
- change the way individual points are connected
( this was the first feature I missed in XGraph)
- change the index of the first and the last point to be plotted
( to see just a definite part of a complicated picture)
- make the attractor reconstruction using the Taken's theorem
(when called with one argument - which assumes that Your data
is a time series sampled in equidistant time intervals)
- read the coordinates of the point pointed to by the mouse
by clicking the mouse button
(without moving the mouse which would make a zoom)
- see a growing file on-line in real time
(this can be useful
when the computation of your results is time demanding
or to see measured data on-line)
HOW TO MAKE DISCONNECTED LINES
value -0.3737 in Your data has special meaning : it is not plotted and
it is not connected with the previous and with the next point (when
calling xpplot with two datafiles, use the breaker -0.3737 in both
files)
values -0.373710 ... -0.373715 in Your data also change the way how
the points are connected in the same style as clicking a mouse button
in the line window (try it) (see demo files x and y and try xpplot x
y)
OPTIONS
-h help
-b batch run to make a Hardcopy file without X-Window spectacle
-t "Title of the picture" to specify the title (useful with -b)
-ln where n is an integer between 0 and 5
set the way individual points are connected (useful with -b)
-f "HardCopyFile" to specify the name of the output file for hardcopy
default is hcopy0.ps
if this already exists hcopy1.ps will be used (and so on)
-pn where n is a number (it can be decimal)
to see Your new data once in n seconds
0 turns this mode off, which is default
- 2 - Formatted: December 17, 2025
xpplot(1) xpplot(1)
August 19, 1993
-F FontName to specify Your favorite Font
(only for the interactive buttons)
-g WIDTHxHEIGHT+Xoffset+Yoffset to specify the geometry
of the main window
(useful in a script which calls xpplot more than once
to make more xpplot windows on Your screen)
HOW TO COMPILE
xpplot.c is written in simple C using only Xlib library (and libm.a).
if you have the file xpplot.tar.Z type
$ uncompress xpplot.tar.Z
$ tar xf xpplot.tar
$ cc -o xpplot xpplot.c -lm -lX11
ON-LINE
To see how the -p option works copy the following C program to a file
"lor.c" and copy the following script to a file "see" and then run the
script "see". The program "lor.c" solves a set 3 differential
equations (the Lorenz model in chaotic regime) using Euler method and
writes the output to files "lor.t", "lor.x", "lor.y" and "lor.z".
After computing 100 points, it sleeps for 1 second before writing each
new point. The script "see"
1. compiles the program lor.c
2. runs the compiled program in background
3. waits 1 second so that the data files can be created
4. starts 4 runs of xpplot in background to open 4 windows
for plotting the results of the program lor.
----------------------------------------------------
/* file lor.c */
# include <stdio.h>
# include <unistd.h> /* for sleep */
main ()
{
int i,it=100,im=1000;
double x=10, y=20, z=40, h=0.02, t=0, s=10, r=28, b=8.0/3.0;
FILE
*ft = fopen ("lor.t","w"),
*fx = fopen ("lor.x","w"),
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xpplot(1) xpplot(1)
August 19, 1993
*fy = fopen ("lor.y","w"),
*fz = fopen ("lor.z","w");
for (i=0;i<im;i++) {
t += h;
x += h * (s*(y-x));
y += h * (r*x-y-x*z);
z += h * (x*y-b*z);
(void) fprintf (ft,"%G0,t);
(void) fprintf (fx,"%G0,x);
(void) fprintf (fy,"%G0,y);
(void) fprintf (fz,"%G0,z);
(void) fflush ( (FILE*) NULL);
if (i>it) (void) sleep(1);
};
(void) printf ("%G %G %G %G 0,t,x,y,z);
return (0);
} /* mani */
/* end of file lor.c */
----------------------------------------------------
# file see
cc -o lor lor.c
lor &
sleep 1
xpplot -p 1 -g 620x470+10+30 -l 3 lor.x &
xpplot -p 1 -g 620x470+650+30 -l 3 lor.y &
xpplot -p 1 -g 620x470+10+543 -l 3 lor.z &
xpplot -p 1 -g 620x470+650+543 -l 3 lor.x lor.y &
# end of file see
----------------------------------------------------
SEE ALSO
xpplot with no arguments prints a little help
xpplot -h prints more help
programs plotmany, plotnoaxes, plotmax
in /usr/local/bin
- 4 - Formatted: December 17, 2025
