PLPTEX(3plplot)

💅 NAME 💅

plptex — the one where you write text inside the viewport, bestie. No cap.

So this is a page from the PLplot API manual, and we're talking about plptex, which literally puts text on your plot. Iconic behaviour, honestly.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

plptex(x, y, dx, dy, just, text)

That's the whole vibe check. Six arguments, one glorious little function. 🫶

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Okay so here's the tea: plptex writes text at a position and an inclination that you pick, and it all happens within the viewport. Simple. Gorgeous. Main character energy.

Now, the text gets clipped at the viewport boundaries — so if you try to be extra and push your string off the edge, it's getting cut off. Sorry babes, that's just the rules. 💀

Here's the part you actually need to know about the reference point, because it's lowkey specific: the reference point of a string lies along a line that passes through the string at half the height of a capital letter. Yeah. Half a capital letter. That's the line. And where the reference point sits along that line? That's all just's job. The reference point itself gets placed at world coordinates (x, y) inside the viewport. ✨

Then there's the inclination — and this is the cute part — it's specified in terms of differences of world coordinates, which makes it super easy to write text parallel to a line in a graph. Like, you literally just follow the line. Obsessed. 🌸

Redacted form: plptex(x, y, dx, dy, just, text)

This function is used in example 2-4,10,12-14,20,23,24,26. (Yes, all of those. She's booked and busy. 👑)

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• x (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — the x coordinate of the reference point of the string. That's it, that's the whole thing. 💖
• y (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — the y coordinate of the reference point of the string. Matching set with x, as it should be. 🎀
• dx (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — together with dy, this specifies the inclination of the string. The baseline of the string is parallel to a line joining (x, y) to (x+dx, y+dy) . Ngl, that's kind of elegant.
• dy (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — together with dx, this specifies the inclination of the string. They're a package deal, fr fr. 🤝
• just (PLFLT(3plplot), input) — specifies the position of the string relative to its reference point. If just=0. , the reference point is at the left, and if just=1. , it is at the right of the string. Other values of just give intermediate justifications — so you can absolutely live in the in-between, no pressure to pick a side. 💅
• text (PLCHAR_VECTOR(3plplot), input) — a UTF-8 character string to be written out. Yes, UTF-8. Bring your emoji, bring your accents, bring the whole aesthetic. 🌈

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

Many developers — and they're all credited at http://plplot.sourceforge.net/credits.php — have contributed to PLplot over its long, long history. Like, long long. Respect the elders. 🙏

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• PLplot documentation at http://plplot.sourceforge.net/documentation.php — go read it, it's giving resourceful. 📚

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Reminder bestie: text gets clipped at the viewport boundaries. That's not a bug, that's just how she is. 💅

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And that's a wrap! ✨ This lil page is from the PLplot API manual, dated August, 2026 — so yeah, she's fresh. Go forth and annotate your plots, queen. 🎀💖🦋