Search code examples
themesgnuplotconfiguration-filesdemo

Default colour set on gnuplot website

Ok, I know this question might sound silly, but I cannot find out why the demo from the gnuplot official website (you can see an example on the left hand side in the picture below) looks different (and much nicer) than what I get from running the same demo on my machine (on a wxt terminal).

Is there a configuration file (something like a ~/.gnuplotrc) where a theme has been specified? If so, does anyone know what theme has been used here?

Here you have an image where you can compare the website and the locally-made versions

Demo from website and locally-made comparison

Moreover, just an off topic curiosity, is anyone using gnuplot seriously, or it's basically used to plot simple batch plots and for Octave?

Solution

  • It is very likely that the person who made the demo (likely Ethan Merritt) has defined his/her own set of default line colors, which are reflected in the demo images. You can do this yourself (see help set linetype). Example from gnuplot e-mail list:

    # Ethan A Merritt - my preference for gnuplot colors
 # 2 3 4 5 6 8 are borrowed from the colors_podo set
 #
 set linetype  1 lc rgb "dark-violet" lw 1
 set linetype  2 lc rgb "#009e73" lw 1
 set linetype  3 lc rgb "#56b4e9" lw 1
 set linetype  4 lc rgb "#e69f00" lw 1
 set linetype  5 lc rgb "#f0e442" lw 1
 set linetype  6 lc rgb "#0072b2" lw 1
 set linetype  7 lc rgb "#e51e10" lw 1
 set linetype  8 lc rgb "black"   lw 1
 set linetype  9 lc rgb "gray50"  lw 1
 set linetype cycle  9

    There are no built-in gnuplot themes, only sets of settings which change colors.

    And yes, I do use gnuplot seriously! I use it both for simple plotting and for scientific publication.