d.vect(1)

📦

version 8.4.2 · 8 versions

d.vect(1) 🦋💅

okay bestie, this is d.vect(1) from the GRASS GIS User's Manual — and it's literally the main character for showing your vector map in the active graphics frame. no cap.

NAME 💖

d.vect — Displays user-specified vector map in the active graphics frame. That's the whole vibe. periodt.

KEYWORDS 🌸

display, graphics, vector, level1 — iykyk.

SYNOPSIS ✨

       d.vect
       d.vect --help
       d.vect [-cirs] map=name  [layer=string]  display=string[,string,...]
       [type=string[,string,...]]   [cats=range]   [where=sql_query]
       [color=name]   [fill_color=name]   [rgb_column=name]   [zcolor=style]
       [width=integer]   [width_column=name]   [width_scale=float]
       [icon=string]   [size=float]   [size_column=name]
       [rotation_column=name]   [icon_area=string]   [icon_line=string]
       [legend_label=string]   [label_layer=string]   [attribute_column=name]
       [label_color=name]   [label_bgcolor=name]   [label_bcolor=name]
       [label_size=integer]   [font=string]   [encoding=string]   [xref=string]
       [yref=string]   [minreg=float]   [maxreg=float]   [--help]  [--verbose]
       [--quiet]  [--ui]

Flags 🚩

-c — Random colors according to category number (or layer number if layer=-1 is given)
-i — Use values from cats option as feature id
-r — Use square root of the value of size_column This makes circle areas proportionate to the size_column values instead of circle radius
-s — Do not show this layer in vector legend
--help — Print usage summary
--verbose — Verbose module output
--quiet — Quiet module output
--ui — Force launching GUI dialog

Parameters 🎀

map=name [required] — Name of vector map. Or data source for direct OGR access.
layer=string — Layer number or name (-1 for all layers). A single vector map can be connected to multiple database tables. This number determines which table to use. When used with direct OGR access this is the layer name. Default: 1
display=string[,string,...] [required] — Display. Options: shape, cat, topo, vert, dir, zcoor. Default: shape
- shape: Display geometry of features
- cat: Display category numbers of features
- topo: Display topology information (nodes, edges)
- vert: Display vertices of features
- dir: Display direction of linear features
- zcoor: Display z-coordinate of features (only for 3D vector maps)
type=string[,string,...] — Input feature type. Options: point, line, boundary, centroid, area, face. Default: point,line,area,face
cats=range — Category values. Example: 1,3,7-9,13
where=sql_query — WHERE conditions of SQL statement without where keyword. Example: income < 1000 and population >= 10000
color=name — Feature color. Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none". Default: 0:29:57
fill_color=name — Area fill color. Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none". Default: 0:103:204
rgb_column=name — Colorize features according to color definition column. Color definition in R:G:B form
zcolor=style — Colorize point or area features according to z-coordinate. Options are:
- aspect — aspect oriented grey colors [range: map values]
- aspectcolr — aspect oriented rainbow colors [range: 0 to 360]
- bcyr — blue through cyan through yellow to red [range: map values]
- bgyr — blue through green through yellow to red [range: map values]
- blues — white to blue [range: map values]
- byg — blue through yellow to green [range: map values]
- byr — blue through yellow to red [range: map values]
- celsius — blue to red for degree Celsius temperature [range: -80 to 80]
- corine — EU Corine land cover colors [range: 111 to 995]
- curvature — for terrain curvatures (from v.surf.rst and r.slope.aspect) [range: map values]
- differences — differences oriented colors [range: map values]
- elevation — maps relative ranges of raster values to elevation color ramp [range: map values]
- etopo2 — colors for ETOPO2 worldwide bathymetry/topography [range: -11000 to 8850]
- evi — enhanced vegetative index colors [range: -1 to 1]
- fahrenheit — blue to red for Fahrenheit temperature [range: -112 to 176]
- forest_cover — percentage of forest cover [range: 0 to 100]
- gdd — accumulated growing degree days [range: 0 to 6000]
- grass — GRASS GIS green (perceptually uniform) [range: map values]
- greens — white to green [range: map values]
- grey — grey scale [range: map values]
- grey.eq — histogram-equalized grey scale [range: map values]
- grey.log — histogram logarithmic transformed grey scale [range: map values]
- grey1.0 — grey scale for raster values between 0.0-1.0 [range: 0 to 1]
- grey255 — grey scale for raster values between 0-255 [range: 0 to 255]
- gyr — green through yellow to red [range: map values]
- haxby — relative colors for bathymetry or topography [range: map values]
- inferno — perceptually uniform sequential color table inferno [range: map values]
- kelvin — blue to red for temperature in Kelvin scale [range: 193.15 to 353.15]
- magma — perceptually uniform sequential color table magma [range: map values]
- ndvi — Normalized Difference Vegetation Index colors [range: -1 to 1]
- ndwi — Normalized Difference Water Index colors [range: -200 to 200]
- nlcd — US National Land Cover Dataset colors [range: 0 to 95]
- oranges — white to orange [range: map values]
- plasma — perceptually uniform sequential color table plasma [range: map values]
- population — color table covering human population classification breaks [range: 0 to 2e+09]
- population_dens — color table covering human population density classification breaks [range: 0 to 1e+09]
- precipitation — precipitation color table (0..2000mm) [range: 0 to 7000]
- precipitation_daily — precipitation color table (0..1000mm) [range: 0 to 10000]
- precipitation_monthly — precipitation color table (0..1000mm) [range: 0 to 1000]
- rainbow — rainbow color table [range: map values]
- ramp — color ramp [range: map values]
- random — random color table [range: map values]
- reds — white to red [range: map values]
- roygbiv — [range: map values]
- rstcurv — terrain curvature (from r.resamp.rst) [range: map values]
- ryb — red through yellow to blue [range: map values]
- ryg — red through yellow to green [range: map values]
- sepia — yellowish-brown through to white [range: map values]
- slope — r.slope.aspect-type slope colors for raster values 0-90 [range: 0 to 90]
- soilmoisture — soilmoisture color table (0.0-1.0) [range: 0 to 1]
- srtm — color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation [range: -11000 to 8850]
- srtm_percent — color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission using relative elevation [range: map values]
- srtm_plus — color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation (with seafloor colors) [range: -11000 to 8850]
- terrain — global elevation color table covering -11000 to +8850m [range: -11000 to 8850]
- viridis — perceptually uniform sequential color table viridis [range: map values]
- water — water depth [range: map values]
- wave — color wave [range: map values]
width=integer — Line width. Default: 0
width_column=name — Name of numeric column containing line width. These values will be scaled by width_scale
width_scale=float — Scale factor for width_column. Default: 1
icon=string — Point and centroid symbol. Options: basic/arrow, basic/arrow1, basic/arrow2, basic/arrow3, basic/box, basic/circle, basic/cross1, basic/cross2, basic/cross3, basic/diamond, basic/hexagon, basic/marker, basic/octagon, basic/pin, basic/pin_dot, basic/point, basic/pushpin, basic/star, basic/triangle, basic/x, demo/muchomurka, demo/smrk, extra/4pt_star, extra/adcp, extra/airport, extra/alpha_flag, extra/bridge, extra/dim_arrow, extra/dive_flag, extra/fiducial, extra/fish, extra/half-box, extra/half-circle, extra/offbox_ne, extra/offbox_nw, extra/offbox_se, extra/offbox_sw, extra/pentagon, extra/ping, extra/ring, extra/simple_zia, extra/target, geology/circle_cross, geology/half-arrow_left, geology/half-arrow_right, geology/strike_box, geology/strike_circle, geology/strike_cleavage, geology/strike_half-bowtie, geology/strike_line, geology/strike_parallel, geology/strike_triangle, legend/area, legend/area_curved, legend/line, legend/line_crooked, n_arrows/basic_compass, n_arrows/fancy_compass, n_arrows/n_arrow1a, n_arrows/n_arrow1b, n_arrows/n_arrow2, n_arrows/n_arrow3, n_arrows/n_arrow4, n_arrows/n_arrow5, n_arrows/n_arrow6, n_arrows/n_arrow7a, n_arrows/n_arrow7b, n_arrows/n_arrow8a, n_arrows/n_arrow8b, n_arrows/n_arrow9. Default: basic/x
size=float — Symbol size. When used with the size_column option this becomes the scale factor. Default: 5
size_column=name — Name of numeric column containing symbol size
rotation_column=name — Name of numeric column containing symbol rotation angle. Measured in degrees CCW from east

icon_area=string — the area/boundary symbol that shows up in your legend 🎀

Options (and bestie, there are so many, we are listing every single one, no skimming):

basic/arrow, basic/arrow1, basic/arrow2, basic/arrow3,
basic/box, basic/circle, basic/cross1, basic/cross2, basic/cross3,
basic/diamond, basic/hexagon, basic/marker, basic/octagon,
basic/pin, basic/pin_dot, basic/point, basic/pushpin, basic/star,
basic/triangle, basic/x, demo/muchomurka, demo/smrk, extra/4pt_star,
extra/adcp, extra/airport, extra/alpha_flag, extra/bridge,
extra/dim_arrow, extra/dive_flag, extra/fiducial, extra/fish,
extra/half-box, extra/half-circle, extra/offbox_ne, extra/offbox_nw,
extra/offbox_se, extra/offbox_sw, extra/pentagon, extra/ping,
extra/ring, extra/simple_zia, extra/target, geology/circle_cross,
geology/half-arrow_left, geology/half-arrow_right,
geology/strike_box, geology/strike_circle, geology/strike_cleavage,
geology/strike_half-bowtie, geology/strike_line,
geology/strike_parallel, geology/strike_triangle, legend/area,
legend/area_curved, legend/line, legend/line_crooked,
n_arrows/basic_compass, n_arrows/fancy_compass, n_arrows/n_arrow1a,
n_arrows/n_arrow1b, n_arrows/n_arrow2, n_arrows/n_arrow3,
n_arrows/n_arrow4, n_arrows/n_arrow5, n_arrows/n_arrow6,
n_arrows/n_arrow7a, n_arrows/n_arrow7b, n_arrows/n_arrow8a,
n_arrows/n_arrow8b, n_arrows/n_arrow9

Default: legend/area

icon_line=string — the line symbol for your legend ✨

Options (same iconic menu, still every last one of them):

basic/arrow, basic/arrow1, basic/arrow2, basic/arrow3,
basic/box, basic/circle, basic/cross1, basic/cross2, basic/cross3,
basic/diamond, basic/hexagon, basic/marker, basic/octagon,
basic/pin, basic/pin_dot, basic/point, basic/pushpin, basic/star,
basic/triangle, basic/x, demo/muchomurka, demo/smrk, extra/4pt_star,
extra/adcp, extra/airport, extra/alpha_flag, extra/bridge,
extra/dim_arrow, extra/dive_flag, extra/fiducial, extra/fish,
extra/half-box, extra/half-circle, extra/offbox_ne, extra/offbox_nw,
extra/offbox_se, extra/offbox_sw, extra/pentagon, extra/ping,
extra/ring, extra/simple_zia, extra/target, geology/circle_cross,
geology/half-arrow_left, geology/half-arrow_right,
geology/strike_box, geology/strike_circle, geology/strike_cleavage,
geology/strike_half-bowtie, geology/strike_line,
geology/strike_parallel, geology/strike_triangle, legend/area,
legend/area_curved, legend/line, legend/line_crooked,
n_arrows/basic_compass, n_arrows/fancy_compass, n_arrows/n_arrow1a,
n_arrows/n_arrow1b, n_arrows/n_arrow2, n_arrows/n_arrow3,
n_arrows/n_arrow4, n_arrows/n_arrow5, n_arrows/n_arrow6,
n_arrows/n_arrow7a, n_arrows/n_arrow7b, n_arrows/n_arrow8a,
n_arrows/n_arrow8b, n_arrows/n_arrow9

Default: legend/line

legend_label=string — the label to display after the symbol in the vector legend, i.e. the lil text caption 💬
label_layer=string — which layer to grab the labels from (default: the layer number you already gave). Vector features can carry category values in different layers, and this number is the one that decides which layer gets used. When you're doing direct OGR access, this is the layer name instead. Default: 1
attribute_column=name — the name of the column you want displayed as a label 🏷️
label_color=name — label color. Either a standard color name or an R:G:B triplet. Default: red
label_bgcolor=name — label background color. Either a standard color name, an R:G:B triplet, or "none". Default: none
label_bcolor=name — label border color. Either a standard color name, an R:G:B triplet, or "none". Default: none
label_size=integer — label size, in pixels. Default: 8
font=string — font name 🔤
encoding=string — text encoding
xref=string — label horizontal justification. Options: left, center, right. Default: left
yref=string — label vertical justification. Options: top, center, bottom. Default: center
minreg=float — minimum region size (averaged from height and width) when the map is displayed
maxreg=float — maximum region size (averaged from height and width) when the map is displayed

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

d.vect displays vector maps in the active frame on the graphics monitor. That's the whole job. It shows your vectors. Slay.

💅 NOTES 💅

You can absolutely just type d.vect map=vector_map and call it a day. But there's a huge menu of optional parameters, so you can dial in vector type, colors, data fields, SQL queries, label size and justification, etc. It's giving customisation. 🎨

⚠️ When you use d.vect with the where parameter on MS Windows Command Prompt, it is important to use the ˆ carret symbol for escaping special characters < > ( ) & | , ; ".

d.vect map=vector_map where="cat ˆ> 10 AND cat ˆ< 20"

By default d.vect areas are filled with fill_color and outlined with color. Wanna kill the outlines? Say less:

d.vect map=vector_map color=none

And you can make areas transparent with:

d.vect map=vector_map fill_color=none

If you want to display attributes right there on the map, attribute_column must be specified. No cap.

Feature colors can be specified by v.colors, either in the form of a color table or in an attribute table column containing RRR:GGG:BBB values. 💖

A table for a vector map might look like this:

db.select sql="select * from testisola"
cat|label|GRASSRGB
0|no data|255:255:255
90|FRASSILONGO|23:245:67
104|LEVICO|23:145:67
139|PERGINE VALSUGANA|223:45:237
168|SANT’ORSOLA|223:45:67
190|TENNA|123:45:67

To add the GRASSRGB color column, use v.db.addcolumn:

v.db.addcolumn map=testisola columns="GRASSRGB varchar(11)"

To add/change a color, use v.db.update:

v.db.update map=testisola column=GRASSRGB value="123:45:237" where="cat=139"

A much simpler method of color coding is the -c flag — it displays vector elements of like category number with a random color. Random colors? We love a chaotic queen. 🎲

This module can use FreeType/TrueType fonts, but only if they've already been selected with d.font. Fonts don't just appear, bestie. ✍️

The parameter width is set by default to '0'. XDRIVER specifies the precise behaviour for non-zero line width, but drivers have some freedom as to how zero-width lines are handled — so they can use the hardware's "thin line" drawing primitive, if it has one. A width of zero can potentially result in significantly faster operation. On drivers where there's no such thing as a "thin" line, the driver will use a sensible default (which might not be the same as '1'). iykyk 💫

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

Spearfish examples:

# display roads with category numbers:
d.vect map=roads display=shape,cat label_color=green
# display randomly colorized soils map with attributes
d.vect -c map=soils attribute_column=label
# display randomly colorized selected vectors from soils map
d.vect -c map=soils where="label=’VBF’" display=shape attribute_column=label

3D points, 3D lines and 3D polygons colorized according to z height (and for 3D lines and polygons, a z height is computed by a midpoint of line/area bounding box):

g.region raster=elevation.10m
r.random input=elevation.10m n=5000 vector=random3d -d
d.mon start=x0
# display as black points
d.vect map=random3d
# display 3D points colorized according to z height
d.vect map=random3d zcolor=gyr
# 3D contour lines
r.contour input=elevation.10m output=contour20m step=20
d.vect map=contour20m zcolor=gyr
# generate 3D triangles
v.delaunay input=random3d output=random3d_del
# display 3D polygons colorized according to z height
d.vect map=random3d_del type=area zcolor=gyr

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

v.colors, d.erase, d.rast, v.colors, v.db.addcolumn, v.db.update

(and yes, v.colors really is in there twice — iconic of it 💀)

GRASS SQL interface

👑 AUTHORS 👑

CERL
Radim Blazek, ITC-Irst, Trento, Italy
Support for color tables by Martin Landa, Czech Technical University in Prague (8/2011)
and many other GRASS developers

🫶 SOURCE CODE 🫶

Available at: d.vect source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:40:38 2026

And that's the whole page, bestie — footer says <b>GRASS 8.4.2</b> and this is the <b>d.vect(1)</b> manual, so go forth and display those vectors 💖✨🌸

📦 where this page comes from

fedora 44: grass 8.4.2-4.fc44 · GPL-2.0-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-10-13: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms