TEK2PLOT(1)

✨ NAME ✨

Bestie, welcome to TEK2PLOT(1) from GNU Plotting Utilities — the page for tek2plot, whose whole job is to translate Tektronix files to other graphics formats. 💅✨

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

tek2plot [ options ] [ files ]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so tek2plot translates Tektronix graphics files to other formats, or displays them on an X Window System display. You pick the output format with the -T option, and the possible output formats are the same as those supported by graph(1), plot(1), pic2plot(1), and plotfont(1). If an output file is produced, it is written to standard output. ✨

Options and file names may be interspersed on the command line, but the options are processed before the file names are read. If -- is seen, it is interpreted as the end of the options. If no file names are specified, or the file name - is encountered, the standard input is read. That's the whole traffic pattern, bestie. 🫶

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

🌸 General Options 🌸

Every flag, every value, no skips — periodt. 💅

• -T type, --output-format type — Select type as the output format. It may be "X", "png", "pnm", "gif", "svg", "ai", "ps", "cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", or "meta" (the default). These refer respectively to the X Window System, PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format, portable anymap format (PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF format that does not use LZW encoding, the new XML-based Scalable Vector Graphics format, the format used by Adobe Illustrator, Postscript or Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) that can be edited with idraw(1), CGM format (by default, conforming to the WebCGM profile), the format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the Hewlett-Packard PCL 5 printer language, the Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, ReGIS graphics format (which can be displayed by the dxterm(1) terminal emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal), Tektronix format itself, and device-independent GNU metafile format. Unless type is "X", an output file is produced and written to standard output. Omitting the -T option is equivalent to specifying -T meta. GNU metafile format may be translated to other formats with plot(1). It's giving format buffet, and honestly? Iconic. 🌈
• -p n, --page-number n — Output only page number n, within the Tektronix file or sequence of Tektronix files that is being translated. n must be a non-negative integer, since a Tektronix file may consist of one or more pages, numbered beginning with zero. The default behavior if the -p option is not used is to output all nonempty pages in succession. For example, tek2plot -T X displays each Tektronix page in its own X window. If the -T png, -T pnm, -T gif, -T ai, or -T fig option is used, the default behavior is to output only the first nonempty Tektronix page, since files in those output formats contain only a single page of graphics. Most Tektronix files consist of either one page (page #0) or two pages (an empty page #0, and page #1). Tektronix files produced by the GNU plotting utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) are normally of the latter sort. Page zero said "not me being empty," and page one said "main character energy." 😭
• -F name, --font-name name — Use the font name for rendering the native Tektronix fonts, if it is available. The default font is "Courier" except for tek2plot -T png, tek2plot -T pnm, tek2plot -T gif, tek2plot -T hpgl, tek2plot -T regis, and tek2plot -T tek, for which it is "HersheySerif". A list of available fonts can be obtained with the --help-fonts option (see below). If a font outside the Courier family is used, the --position-chars option (see below) should probably be specified. The -F option is useful only if you have a Tektronix file that draws text using native Tektronix fonts. Tektronix files produced by the GNU plotting utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) do not use native Tektronix fonts: they use Hershey vector fonts instead. Font lore, lowkey. 🎀
• -W line_width, --line-width line_width — Set the width of lines, as a fraction of the width of the display, to be line_width. A negative value means that a default value should be used. This value is format-dependent. The interpretation of zero line width is also format-dependent (in some output formats, a zero-width line is the thinnest line that can be drawn; in others, a zero-width line is invisible). Heads up: zero can mean "baby-fine line" or "ghost line," depending on the format. 👀
• --bg-color name — Set the color used for the background to be name. This is relevant only to tek2plot -T X, tek2plot -T png, tek2plot -T pnm, tek2plot -T gif, tek2plot -T svg, tek2plot -T cgm, and tek2plot -T regis. An unrecognized name sets the color to the default, which is "white". The environment variable BG_COLOR can equally well be used to specify the background color. If the -T svg or -T cgm option is used, an output file without a background may be produced by setting the background color to "none". If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transparent PNG file or a transparent pseudo-GIF, respectively, may be produced by setting the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable to the name of the background color. Transparency? We love a see-through moment. 🦋
• --bitmap-size bitmap_size — Set the size of the graphics display in which the plot will be drawn, in terms of pixels, to be bitmap_size. The default is "570x570". This is relevant only to plot -T X, plot -T png, plot -T pnm, and plot -T gif. If you choose a rectangular (non-square) window size, the fonts in the plot will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by different factors in the horizontal and vertical directions. For plot -T X, this requires an X11R6 display. Any font that cannot be scaled in this way will be replaced by a default scalable font, such as the vector font "HersheySerif". The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally well be used to specify the window size. For backward compatibility, the X resource Xplot.geometry may be used instead. Stretch responsibly, bestie. 💅
• --emulate-color option — If option is yes, replace each color in the output by an appropriate shade of gray. This is seldom useful, except when using tek2plot -T pcl to prepare output for a PCL 5 device. (Many monochrome PCL 5 devices, such as monochrome LaserJets, do a poor job of emulating color on their own.) You may equally well request color emulation by setting the environment variable EMULATE_COLOR to "yes". Monochrome LaserJet said "I'll try my best," and honestly, that's all we can ask. 😭
• --max-line-length max_line_length — Set the maximum number of points that a polygonal line may contain, before it is flushed out, to be max_line_length. If this flushing occurs, the polygonal line will be split into two or more sub-lines, though the splitting should not be noticeable. The default value of max_line_length is 500. The reason for splitting long polygonal lines is that some display devices (e.g., old Postscript printers and HP-GL pen plotters) have limited buffer sizes. The environment variable MAX_LINE_LENGTH can also be used to specify the maximum line length. Buffer anxiety is real, and the polyline feels it. 🫶
• --page-size pagesize — Set the size of the page on which the plot will be positioned. This is relevant only to tek2plot -T svg, tek2plot -T ai, tek2plot -T ps, tek2plot -T cgm, tek2plot -T fig, tek2plot -T pcl, and tek2plot -T hpgl. The default is "letter", which means an 8.5 inch by 11 inch page. Any ISO page size in the range "a0"..."a4" or ANSI page size in the range "a"..."e" may be specified ("letter" is an alias for "a" and "tabloid" is an alias for "b"). "legal" and "ledger" are recognized page sizes also. The environment variable PAGESIZE can equally well be used to specify the page size. The graphics display in which the plot is drawn will be a square region that would occupy nearly the full width of the specified page. An alternative size for the graphics display can be specified. For example, the page size could be specified as "letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or "a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For all of the above except tek2plot -T hpgl, the graphics display will, by default, be centered on the page. For all of the above except tek2plot -T svg and tek2plot -T cgm, the graphics display may be repositioned manually, by specifying the location of its lower left corner, relative to the lower left corner of the page. For example, the page size could be specified as "letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or "a4,xorigin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also possible to specify an offset vector. For example, the page size could be specified as "letter,xoffset=1in", or "letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or "a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM format it is possible to specify the size of the graphics display, but not its position. Page-size customization is the group-chat "where are we meeting" of graphics, and the answer is always "it depends." 🌈
• --pen-color name — Set the pen color to be name. An unrecognized name sets the pen color to the default, which is "black". Default pen said "black is a classic," and it's not wrong. 🖤
• --position-chars — Position the characters in each text string individually. If the text font is not a member of the Courier family, and especially if it is not a fixed-width font, this option is recommended. It will improve the appearance of text strings, at the price of making it difficult to edit the output file with xfig(1), idraw(1), or Illustrator. Beauty is pain, especially for whoever has to edit the file later. 💅
• --rotation angle — Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Recognized values are "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively. The environment variable ROTATION can also be used to specify a rotation angle. Spin the block, but only by the approved angles, bestie. 🌀
• --use-tek-fonts — Use the bitmap fonts that were used on the original Tektronix 4010/4014 terminal. This option is relevant only to tek2plot -T X. The four relevant bitmap fonts are distributed with most versions of the GNU plotting utilities, under the names "tekfont0"..."tekfont3". They can easily be installed on any modern X Window System display. For this option to work properly, you must also select a window size of 1024x1024 pixels, either by using the --bitmap-size 1024x1024 option or by setting the value of the Xplot.geometry resource. This is because bitmap fonts, unlike the scalable fonts that tek2plot normally uses, cannot be rescaled. Vintage terminal fonts are iconic, but they do not do "resize me" energy. 👑

Okay so this option is useful only if you have a file in Tektronix format that draws text using native Tektronix fonts. Tektronix files produced by the GNU plotting utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) do not use native Tektronix fonts: they use Hershey vector fonts instead. 💅

🖨️ Options for Metafile Output

The following option is relevant only if the -T option is omitted or if -T meta is used. In this case tek2plot outputs a GNU graphics metafile, which must be translated to other formats with plot(1).

• -O, --portable-output — outputs the portable (human-readable) version of GNU metafile format, rather than a binary version (the default). Vibe check: the format of the binary version is machine-dependent.

ℹ️ Informational Options

• --help — prints a list of command-line options, and exits. Iconic.
• --help-fonts — prints a table of available fonts, and exits. The table will depend on which output format is specified with the -T option. tek2plot -T X, tek2plot -T svg, tek2plot -T ai, tek2plot -T ps, tek2plot -T cgm, and tek2plot -T fig each support the 35 standard Postscript fonts. tek2plot -T svg, tek2plot -T pcl, and tek2plot -T hpgl support the 45 standard PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support a number of Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All seven support a set of 22 Hershey vector fonts, as do tek2plot -T png, tek2plot -T pnm, tek2plot -T gif, tek2plot -T regis, and tek2plot -T tek. tek2plot without a -T option in principle supports any of these fonts, since its output must be translated to other formats with plot(1).

The plotfont(1) utility may be used to obtain a character map of any supported font.

• --list-fonts — like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single column to facilitate piping to other programs. If no output format is specified with the -T option, the full set of supported fonts is listed.
• --version — prints the version number of tek2plot and the plotting utilities package, and exits.

🌍 ENVIRONMENT

The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR, EMULATE_COLOR, MAX_LINE_LENGTH and ROTATION serve as backups for the options --bitmap-size, --page-size, --bg-color, --emulate-color, --max-line-length, and --rotation, respectively. The remaining environment variables are specific to individual output formats.

• tek2plot -T X — pops up a window on an X Window System display and draws graphics in it, and it checks the DISPLAY environment variable. Its value determines the display that will be used.
• tek2plot -T png and tek2plot -T gif — produce output in PNG format and pseudo-GIF format respectively. They’re affected by the INTERLACE environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output will be interlaced. Also, if the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable is set to the name of a color, that color will be treated as transparent in the output.
• tek2plot -T pnm — produces output in portable anymap (PBM/PGM/PPM) format, and is affected by the PNM_PORTABLE environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output will be in a human-readable format rather than binary (the default).
• tek2plot -T cgm — produces output in CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) format, and is affected by the CGM_MAX_VERSION and CGM_ENCODING environment variables. By default, it produces a binary-encoded version of CGM version 3 format. For backward compatibility, the version number may be reduced by setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1". Irrespective of version, the output CGM file will use the human-readable clear text encoding if CGM_ENCODING is set to "clear_text". However, only binary-encoded CGM files conform to the WebCGM profile.
• tek2plot -T pcl — produces PCL 5 output for Hewlett-Packard printers and plotters, and is affected by the environment variable PCL_ASSIGN_COLORS. It should be set to "yes" when producing PCL 5 output for a color printer or other color device. This will ensure accurate color reproduction by giving the output device complete freedom in assigning colors, internally, to its "logical pens". If it is "no" then the device will use a fixed set of colored pens, and will emulate other colors by shading. The default is "no" because monochrome PCL 5 devices, which are much more common than colored ones, must use shading to emulate color.
• tek2plot -T hpgl — produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language output, and is affected by several environment variables. The most important is HPGL_VERSION, which may be set to "1", "1.5", or "2" (the default). "1" means that the output should be generic HP-GL, "1.5" means that the output should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter and the HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-GL with some HP-GL/2 extensions), and "2" means that the output should be modern HP-GL/2. If the version is "1" or "1.5" then the only available fonts will be vector fonts, and all lines will be drawn with a default width (the -W option will not work).
  • The position of the tek2plot -T hpgl graphics display on the page can be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise by setting the HPGL_ROTATE environment variable to "yes". This is not the same as the rotation obtained with the --rotation option, since it both rotates the graphics display and repositions its lower left corner toward another corner of the page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized values for HPGL_ROTATE are "0", "90", "180", and "270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively. "180" and "270" are supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" (the default).
  • By default, tek2plot -T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of pens. Which pens are present may be specified by setting the HPGL_PENS environment variable. If HPGL_VERSION is "1", the default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black"; if HPGL_VERSION is "1.5" or "2", the default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yellow:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan". The format should be self-explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS you may specify a color for any pen in the range #1...#31. All color names recognized by the X Window System may be used. Pen #1 must always be present, though it need not be black. Any other pen in the range #1...#31 may be omitted.
  • If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then tek2plot -T hpgl will also be affected by the environment variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS. If its value is "yes", then tek2plot -T hpgl will not be restricted to the palette specified in HPGL_PENS: it will assign colors to "logical pens" in the range #1...#31, as needed. The default value is "no" because other than color LaserJet printers and DesignJet plotters, not many HP-GL/2 devices allow the assignment of colors to logical pens.
  • The drawing of visible white lines is supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" and the environment variable HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its value is "no" then white lines (if any), which are normally drawn with pen #0, will not be drawn. This feature is to accommodate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2 pen plotters, for example, do not support the use of pen #0 to draw visible white lines. Some older HP-GL/2 devices may, in fact, malfunction if asked to draw opaque objects.

👀 SEE ALSO

Lowkey go read plot(1), plotfont(1), and The GNU Plotting Utilities Manual. 🫶

👑 AUTHORS

tek2plot was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.arizona.edu). It incorporates a Tektronix parser written by Edward Moy (moy@parc.xerox.com).

💀 BUGS

Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.

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Shoutout to FSF for this one, dated Jun 2000 — it’s TEK2PLOT(1), no cap. 💅✨