plplot(3plplot)

🌸 PLplot — plplot(3plplot) 🌸

Okay bestie, welcome to the PLplot API — this is the plplot(3plplot) page from the PLplot API manual, and it's basically the master directory of every single man page this library ships. No cap.

✨ NAME ✨

PLplot — an Advanced 2D and 3D scientific plotting library 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Here's the whole squad — every API man page that's available. Scroll responsibly, there are a lot of them and they're all iconic in their own way:

• pl_setcontlabelformat — sets the format of the numerical label for contours ✍️
• pl_setcontlabelparam — sets contour labelling parameters other than the format of the numerical label
• pladv — advance the (sub-)page ➡️
• plarc — draw a circular or elliptical arc 🎀
• plaxes — draw a box with axes, etc. with an arbitrary origin
• plbin — plot a histogram from binned data 📊
• plbop — begin a new page
• plbox — draw a box with axes, etc
• plbox3 — draw a box with axes, etc, in 3-d 🧊
• plbtime — calculate broken-down time from continuous time for the current stream ⏰
• plcalc_world — calculate world coordinates and the corresponding window index from relative device coordinates
• plclear — clear the current (sub)page 🧽
• plcol0 — set color, cmap0 🎨
• plcol1 — set color, cmap1 🎨
• plcolorbar — plot a color bar for image, shade or gradient plots 🌈
• plconfigtime — configure the transformation between continuous and broken-down time for the current stream
• plcont — contour plot 🗺️
• plcpstrm — copy state parameters from the reference stream to the current stream
• plctime — calculate continuous time from broken-down time for the current stream
• plend — end the plotting session 👋
• plend1 — end the plotting session for the current stream
• plenv0 — same as plenv(3plplot) but in multiplot mode it doesn't advance the subpage, it clears it instead 🧼
• plenv — set up the standard window and draw the box
• pleop — eject the current page
• plerrx — draw error bars in the x direction
• plerry — draw error bars in the y direction
• plfamadv — advance to the next family file on the next new page
• plfill — draw a filled polygon
• plfill3 — draw a filled polygon in 3D
• plflush — flush the output stream 🚽 (sorry, it's right there)
• plfont — set font 🔤
• plfontld — load Hershey fonts
• plGetCursor — wait for a graphics input event and translate it to world coordinates 🖱️
• plgchr — get character default height and current (scaled) height
• plgcmap1_range — get the cmap1 argument range for continuous color plots
• plgcol0 — returns 8-bit RGB values for a given color index from cmap0
• plgcol0a — returns 8-bit RGB values and the PLFLT alpha transparency value for a given color index from cmap0
• plgcolbg — returns the background color (cmap0[0]) as an 8-bit RGB value
• plgcolbga — returns the background color (cmap0[0]) as an 8-bit RGB value and a PLFLT alpha transparency value
• plgcompression — get the current device-compression setting
• plgdev — get the current device (keyword) name
• plgdidev — get parameters that define the current device-space window
• plgdiori — get plot orientation
• plgdiplt — get parameters that define the current plot-space window
• plgdrawmode — get drawing mode (depends on device support!) 💀
• plgfam — get family file parameters
• plgfci — get FCI (font characterization integer)
• plgfnam — get output file name
• plgfont — get family, style and weight of the current font
• plglevel — get the (current) run level
• plgpage — get page parameters
• plgra — switch to the graphics screen 🖥️
• plgradient — draw a linear gradient inside a polygon
• plgriddata — grid data from irregularly sampled data
• plgspa — get current subpage parameters
• plgstrm — get the current stream number
• plgver — get the current library version number 🏷️
• plgvpd — get viewport limits in normalized device coordinates
• plgvpw — get viewport limits in world coordinates
• plgxax — get x axis parameters
• plgyax — get y axis parameters
• plgzax — get z axis parameters
• plhist — plot a histogram from unbinned data
• plhlsrgb — convert HLS color to RGB
• plimagefr — plot a 2D matrix using cmap1
• plimage — plot a 2D matrix using cmap1 with automatic color adjustment ✨
• plinit — initialize PLplot 🚀
• pljoin — draw a line between two points
• pllab — a simple routine to write labels
• pllegend — plot a legend using discretely annotated filled boxes, lines, and/or lines of symbols 👑
• pllightsource — sets the 3D position of the light source 💡
• plline — draw a line
• plline3 — draw a line in 3 space
• pllsty — select line style
• plmap — plot continental outline or shapefile data in world coordinates 🌍
• plmapfill — plot all or a subset of Shapefile data, filling the polygons
• plmapline — plot all or a subset of Shapefile data using lines in world coordinates
• plmapstring — plot all or a subset of Shapefile data using strings or points in world coordinates
• plmaptex — draw text at points defined by Shapefile data in world coordinates
• plmeridians — plot latitude and longitude lines
• plmesh — plot a surface mesh 🕸️
• plmeshc — magnitude colored plot surface mesh with contour
• plmkstrm — creates a new stream and makes it the default
• plmtex — write text relative to viewport boundaries
• plmtex3 — write text relative to viewport boundaries in 3D plots
• plot3d — plot a 3-d surface plot
• plot3dc — magnitude colored plot surface with contour
• plot3dcl — magnitude colored plot surface with contour for z[x][y] with y index limits
• plparseopts — parse command-line arguments
• plpat — set area line fill pattern
• plpath — draw a line between two points, accounting for coordinate transforms
• plpoin — plot a glyph at the specified points
• plpoin3 — plot a glyph at the specified 3D points
• plpoly3 — draw a polygon in 3 space
• plprec — set precision in numeric labels
• plpsty — select area fill pattern
• plptex — write text inside the viewport
• plptex3 — write text inside the viewport of a 3D plot
• plrandd — random number generator returning a real random number in the range [0,1] 🎲
• plreplot — replays the contents of the plot buffer to the current device/file
• plrgbhls — convert RGB color to HLS
• plschr — set character size
• plscmap0 — set cmap0 colors by 8-bit RGB values
• plscmap0a — set cmap0 colors by 8-bit RGB values and a PLFLT alpha transparency value
• plscmap0n — set the number of colors in cmap0
• plscmap1_range — set the cmap1 argument range for continuous color plots
• plscmap1 — set opaque RGB cmap1 color values
• plscmap1a — set semitransparent cmap1 RGBA colors.
• plscmap1l — set cmap1 colors using a piece-wise linear relationship
• plscmap1la — set cmap1 colors and alpha transparency using a piece-wise linear relationship
• plscmap1n — set the number of colors in cmap1
• plscol0 — set 8-bit RGB values for a given cmap0 color index
• plscol0a — set 8-bit RGB values and a PLFLT alpha transparency value for a given cmap0 color index
• plscolbg — set the background color by 8-bit RGB value
• plscolbga — set the background color by 8-bit RGB value and a PLFLT alpha transparency value.
• plscolor — used to globally turn color output on/off 🔌
• plscompression — set device-compression level
• plsdev — set the device (keyword) name
• plsdidev — set parameters that define the current device-space window
• plsdimap — set up transformation from metafile coordinates
• plsdiori — set plot orientation
• plsdiplt — set parameters that define the current plot-space window
• plsdiplz — set parameters incrementally (zoom mode) that define the current plot-space window 🔍
• plsdrawmode — set drawing mode (depends on device support!) 💀
• plseed — set the seed for the internal random number generator.
• plsesc — set the escape character for text strings
• plsetopt — set any command-line option
• plsfam — set family file parameters
• plsfci — set FCI (font characterization integer)
• plsfnam — set output file name
• plsfont — set family, style and weight of the current font
• plshades — shade regions on the basis of value
• plshade — shade an individual region on the basis of value
• plslabelfunc — assign a function to use for generating custom axis labels
• plsmaj — set length of major ticks
• plsmem — set the memory area to be plotted (RGB)
• plsmema — set the memory area to be plotted (RGBA)
• plsmin — set length of minor ticks
• plsori — set orientation
• plspage — set page parameters
• plspal0 — set the cmap0 palette using the specified cmap0*.pal format file
• plspal1 — set the cmap1 palette using the specified cmap1*.pal format file
• plspause — set the pause (on end-of-page) status
• plsstrm — set the current output stream
• plssub — set the number of subpages in x and y
• plssym — set symbol size
• plstar — initialization ⭐
• plstart — initialization
• plstransform — set a global coordinate transform function
• plstring — plot a glyph at the specified points
• plstring3 — plot a glyph at the specified 3D points
• plstripa — add a point to a strip chart
• plstripc — create a 4-pen strip chart 🖊️
• plstripd — deletes and releases memory used by a strip chart
• plstyl — set line style
• plsurf3d — plot a shaded 3-d surface plot
• plsurf3dl — plot a shaded 3-d surface plot for z[x][y] with y index limits
• plsvect — set arrow style for vector plots 🏹
• plsvpa — specify viewport in absolute coordinates
• plsxax — set x axis parameters
• plsyax — set y axis parameters
• plsym — plot a glyph at the specified points
• plszax — set z axis parameters
• pltext — switch to the text screen
• pltimefmt — set format for date / time labels
• plvasp — specify viewport using aspect ratio only
• plvect — vector plot
• plvpas — specify viewport using coordinates and aspect ratio
• plvpor — specify viewport using normalized subpage coordinates
• plvsta — select the standard viewport
• plw3d — configure the transformations required for projecting a 3D surface on a 2D window
• plwidth — set pen width
• plwind — specify window 🪟
• plxormod — enter or leave xor mode

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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. Literally so many legends fr fr 🫶

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

PLplot documentation at http://plplot.sourceforge.net/documentation.php. Go read it, it's giving main character energy ✨

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That's the whole vibe check, bestie — go forth and plot something gorgeous 🌈💅

August, 2026 🦋 — this page is from the PLplot API, section 3plplot, mwah 💋