PLBOX(3plplot)

💖 PLBOX(3plplot) — the PLplot API one 💖

ok so bestie, we're in the PLplot API today and the star of the show is PLBOX(3plplot). Buckle up, this one's a cutie 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

plbox — draw a box with axes, etc. that's it, that's the whole vibe 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

plbox(xopt, xtick, nxsub, yopt, ytick, nysub)

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So plbox draws a box around whatever viewport you've currently got defined, and then it labels that box with world coordinate values that actually match your window. Iconic behavior, honestly. 🫶

Which means: plbox(3plplot) should only be called after you've defined both the viewport and the window. Like, don't skip steps, it needs both to be its best self.

The ascii character strings xopt and yopt are the whole personality of the box — they tell it exactly how to be drawn, and it's all described below ⬇️. And if ticks and/or subticks are gonna be drawn on a particular axis, you can either specify the tick intervals and number of subintervals explicitly, or just vibe and let them be defaulted by setting the appropriate arguments to zero. easy ✨

Redacted form: General: plbox(xopt, xtick, nxsub, yopt, ytick, nysub)

This function is used in examples 1, 2, 4, 6, 6-12, 14-18, 21, 23-26, and 29. (she's booked and busy 😭)

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💜 ARGUMENTS 💜

🌈 the x-side of things

• xopt (PLCHAR_VECTOR(3plplot), input) — an ascii character string specifying options for the x axis. It can include any combination of the following letters (upper or lower case) in any order:
  • a: Draws axis, X-axis is horizontal line (y=0), and Y-axis is vertical line (x=0).
  • b: Draws bottom (X) or left (Y) edge of frame.
  • c: Draws top (X) or right (Y) edge of frame.
  • d: Plot labels as date / time. Values are assumed to be seconds since the epoch (as used by gmtime).
  • f: Always use fixed point numeric labels.
  • g: Draws a grid at the major tick interval.
  • h: Draws a grid at the minor tick interval.
  • i: Inverts tick marks, so they are drawn outwards, rather than inwards. (she's turning them inside out 💅)
  • l: Labels axis logarithmically. ⚠️ this only affects the labels, not the data, so it is necessary to compute the logarithms of data points before passing them to any of the drawing routines. no cap, read that twice.
  • m: Writes numeric labels at major tick intervals in the unconventional location (above box for X, right of box for Y).
  • n: Writes numeric labels at major tick intervals in the conventional location (below box for X, left of box for Y).
  • o: Use custom labelling function to generate axis label text. The custom labelling function can be defined with the plslabelfunc(3plplot) command. 🎀
  • s: Enables subticks between major ticks, only valid if t is also specified.
  • t: Draws major ticks.
  • u: Exactly like "b" except don't draw edge line.
  • w: Exactly like "c" except don't draw edge line.
  • x: Exactly like "t" (including the side effect of the numerical labels for the major ticks) except exclude drawing the major and minor tick marks.
• xtick (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — world coordinate interval between major ticks on the x axis. If it's set to zero, PLplot automatically generates a suitable tick interval for you. she's got you 🫶
• nxsub (PLINT(3plplot), input) — number of subintervals between major x axis ticks for minor ticks. If it's set to zero, PLplot automatically generates a suitable minor tick interval.

🦋 and the y-side

• yopt (PLCHAR_VECTOR(3plplot), input) — an ascii character string specifying options for the y axis. It can include any combination of the letters defined above for xopt, and in addition may contain:
  • v: Write numeric labels for the y axis parallel to the base of the graph, rather than parallel to the axis. (special little treat just for y 👑)
• ytick (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — world coordinate interval between major ticks on the y axis. If it's set to zero, PLplot automatically generates a suitable tick interval.
• nysub (PLINT(3plplot), input) — number of subintervals between major y axis ticks for minor ticks. If it's set to zero, PLplot automatically generates a suitable minor tick interval.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

Many developers (who are credited at http://plplot.sourceforge.net/credits.php) have contributed to PLplot over its long history. literal legends, all of them 💖

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

PLplot documentation at http://plplot.sourceforge.net/documentation.php. go read it, iykyk 📚

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ok that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🍓 and just so we're all caught up: this was PLBOX(3plplot) from the PLplot API, dated August, 2026 — periodt, mwah 💋🌈