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<title>ploticus: ploticus scripts handbook</title>
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<td><br><h2>Ploticus Scripts Handbook</h2></td>
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<small>
<a href="../doc/welcome.html"><img src="../doc/ploticus.gif" border=0></a><br>
Version 2.41 Mar2009
</small><br><a href="../doc/scripthome.html">Scripts</a>
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<title>Manual page for Ploticus_Scripts_Handbook(PL)</title>
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Scripts are the original approach to using ploticus, and are more robust, powerful, and flexible than prefabs.
For production applications or situations where customization is required, scripts are recommended.
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<FORM ACTION="http://search.freefind.com/find.html" METHOD="GET">
Search the ploticus web site:
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="id" VALUE="80868605">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="pid" VALUE="r">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="mode" VALUE="ALL">
<INPUT type="HIDDEN" name="n" value="0">
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="query" SIZE="20">
<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE=" Go ">
<br><small>(Powered by <A HREF="http://www.freefind.com">FreeFind</A>)</small>
</FORM>
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<ul>
<br><br>
<b><a href="pl.1.html">The pl(1) command</a></b> produces plots from scripts, eg: <tt>pl -png scat1.pl</tt>
<br><br>
<b><a href="../gallery">Gallery of script examples</a></b> <br><br>
<b><a href="news.html">What's new</a></b><br><br>
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<h3>Quick start</h3>
<ul>
1. <a href="download.html">Download the software</a>, and install.
<br>
2. Write your script using your favorite text editor (peruse the script examples gallery to find examples)
<br>
3. Execute the pl command (<tt>pl <i>scriptfile</i></tt>)
</ul>
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<br>
<h3>Writing scripts</h3>
<ul>
<a href="scripts.html">Introduction to scripts</a><br>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html">Script syntax</a><br>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#procs">Specifying procedures and attributes</a><br>
<a href="variables.html">Variables</a><br>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#directives">Directives</a> <tt>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#proc">#proc</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#endproc">#endproc</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#procdef">#procdef</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#saveas">#saveas</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#clone">#clone</a>
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<a href="scriptsyntax.html#set">#set</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#setifnotgiven">#setifnotgiven</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#call">#call</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#if">#if</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#ifspec">#ifspec</a>
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<a href="scriptsyntax.html#for">#for</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#while">#while</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#loop">#loop</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#break">#break</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#continue">#continue</a>
<br>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#exit">#exit</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#include">#include</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#cat">#cat</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#return">#return</a>
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<a href="scriptsyntax.html#write">#write</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#shell">#shell</a>
<a href="scriptsyntax.html#sql">#sql</a>
</tt>
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<a href="variables.html#system">System variables</a>
</ul>
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<h3>Plotting procs</h3>
<ul>
<a href="annotate.html">proc annotate</a> - add annotation<br>
<a href="areadef.html">proc areadef</a> - define a plotting area<br>
<a href="autorange.html">notes on automatic scaling</a><br>
<a href="axis.html"> proc axis (xaxis/yaxis)</a> - render an axis<br>
<a href="bars.html">proc bars</a> - bar graphs, histograms, error bars, floating bars, timelines<br>
<a href="boxplot.html">proc boxplot</a> - produce a boxplot<br>
<a href="categories.html">proc categories</a> - define a set of categories for an axis<br>
<a href="catlines.html">proc catlines</a> - a set of lineplots, one per category<br>
<a href="curvefit.html">proc curvefit</a> - generate a curve from data points<br>
<a href="drawcommands.html">proc drawcommands</a> - draw using command set<br>
<a href="getdata.html">proc getdata</a> - get or specify plot data<br>
<a href="legend.html">proc legend</a> - render a legend<br>
<a href="line.html">proc line</a> - draw arbitrary lines<br>
<a href="lineplot.html">proc lineplot</a> - produce a line plot<br>
<a href="page.html">proc page</a> - set page-wide attributes/ break page<br>
<a href="pie.html">proc pie</a> - produce a pie graph<br>
<a href="rangesweep.html">proc rangesweep</a> - produce a range sweep<br>
<a href="rect.html">proc rect</a> - draw an arbitrary rectangle <br>
<a href="scatterplot.html">proc scatterplot</a> - produce a scatterplot or grid or data point display<br>
<a href="settings.html">proc settings</a> - <b>overall settings</b> for units, notations, etc<br>
<a href="tree.html">proc tree</a> - draw a rooted tree diagram from newick data<br>
<a href="vector.html">proc vector</a> - vector plots<br>
<a href="venndisk.html">proc venndisk</a> - venn diagrams<br>
</ul>
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<br>
<h3>Utility procs</h3>
<ul>
<a href="breakaxis.html">proc breakaxis</a> - break an axis or bar, to display extreme values<br>
<a href="image.html">proc image</a> - incorporate an image (eg. a logo)<br>
<a href="legendentry.html">proc legendentry</a> - define a legend entry explicitly<br>
<a href="print.html">proc print</a> - print contents of data fields, other uses<br>
<a href="processdata.html">proc processdata</a> - internal processing of data:
<br> - accumulate
<br> - break processing
<br> - count/summate on instances
<br> - joins
<br> - row numbering
<br> - compute percents
<br> - reverse row order
<br> - rotation of row/column matrix
<br> - find mean, sd, min, max
<br> - compute totals
<br>
<a href="pvalue.html">proc pvalue</a> - compute and display t test p values <img src="../gallery/gif/new.gif"><br>
<a href="symbol.html">proc symbol</a> - render a single data point symbol<br>
<a href="tabulate.html">proc tabulate</a> - perform tabulations & frequency distributions<br>
<a href="trailer.html">proc trailer</a> - specify data at end of script<br>
<a href="usedata.html">proc usedata</a> - set the current data set for plotting<br>
</ul>
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<br>
<h3>Functions</h3>
<ul>
<a href="functions.html">Introduction</a><br>
<a href="functions.html">plotting functions</a> <br>
<a href="functions.html#arithmetic">arithmetic functions</a> <br>
<a href="functions.html#strings">string functions</a> <br>
<a href="functions.html#commalists">list handling functions</a> <br>
<a href="functions.html#dates">date functions</a> <br>
<a href="functions.html#times">time functions</a><br>
<a href="functions.html#misc">misc functions</a><br>
</ul>
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<h3>Reference</h3>
<ul>
<br><a href="dataformat.html">Input data for plotting</a>
<br><a href="scaleunits.html">Data types and scaling: numeric, category, date, time</a>
<br><a href="attributetypes.html">Absolute units, scaled units, etc.</a>
<br><a href="attributetypes.html#n">Attribute types: dfield, plotvalue, locvalue, printf, string, text, multilinetext</a>
<br><a href="linedetails.html">Linedetails</a>
<br><a href="symboldetails.html">Symboldetails</a>
<br><a href="textdetails.html">Textdetails</a>
<br><a href="select.html">Select expressions</a>
<br><a href="color.html">Colors</a>
<br><a href="fonts.html">Fonts</a>
<br><a href="dates.html">Dates</a>
<br><a href="times.html">Times</a>
<br><a href="config.html">Your ploticus config file - settings to be in effect all the time</a>
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<br><a href="news.html">What's new - general</a>
<br><a href="prefab_news.html">What's new - prefabs</a>
<br><a href="faq.html">FAQ</a>
<br><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ploticus">Newsgroup</a>
<br><a href="pl.1.html">pl(1) man page</a>
<br><a href="api.html">libploticus API</a>
<br><a href="web.html">Web usage notes</a>
<br><a href="clickmap.html">Imagemap, clickmap & mouseover text bubbles</a>
<br><a href="dynamic.html">Dynamic content and just-in-time usage notes</a>
<br><a href="cgi.html">Direct CGI mode</a>
<br><a href="paper.html">Paper-based report usage notes</a>
<br><a href="posters.html">Large-sized poster usage notes</a>
<br><a href="prepress.html">Pre-press work usage notes</a>
<br><a href="svg.html">SVG notes</a>
<br><a href="swf.html">SWF (shockwave-flash) notes</a>
<br><a href="http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/doc/download.html">Download</a>
<br><a href="buildinfo.html">Build instructions</a>
<br><a href="support.html">Troubleshooting & support</a>
<br><a href="limits.html">Limitations</a>
<br><a href="Copyright.html">Copyright and permissions <img src="../doc/gpl.gif" border=0></a>
<br><a href="http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/steve.html">Steve Grubb's home page</a>
</ul>
<br>
<br>
<h3><a href="welcome.html">Back to ploticus home</a></h3>
<h3><a href="prefabs.html">Ploticus prefabs handbook</a></h3>
</ul>
<br>
<br>
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<a href="../doc/welcome.html">
<img src="../doc/ploticus.gif" border=0></a><br><small>data display engine <br>
<a href="../doc/Copyright.html">Copyright Steve Grubb</a>
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<img src="../gallery/all.gif">
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Ploticus is hosted at http://ploticus.sourceforge.net</td><td> </td><td>
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ploticus"><img src="http://sflogo.sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=38453&type=12"
width="120" height="30" border="0"
alt="Get ploticus data display engine at SourceForge.net. Fast, secure and Free Open Source software downloads" /></a>
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