Editing Gnuplot (section)

== Features ==
gnuplot can produce output directly on screen, or in many formats of graphics files, including [[Portable Network Graphics]] (PNG), [[Encapsulated PostScript]] (EPS), [[Scalable Vector Graphics]] (SVG), [[JPEG]] and many others. It is also capable of producing [[LaTeX]] code that can be included directly in LaTeX documents, making use of LaTeX's fonts and powerful formula notation abilities. The program can be used both interactively and in batch mode using scripts.<ref>{{cite web|website=Blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk|title=How to generate graphs with gnuplot|url=http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/networks/2011/09/02/how-to-generate-graphs-with-gnuplot/|access-date=2012-07-19}}
</ref>

gnuplot can read data in multiple formats, including ability to read data on the fly generated by other programs ([[Pipe (Unix)|piping]]), create multiple plots on one image, do 2D, 3D, contour plots, parametric equations, supports various linear and non-linear coordinate systems, projections, geographic and time data reading and presentation, box plots of various forms, histograms, labels, and other custom elements on the plot, including shapes, text and images, that can be set manually, computed by script or automatically from input data.

gnuplot also provides scripting capabilities, looping, functions, text processing, variables, macros, arbitrary pre-processing of input data (usually across columns), as well as the ability to perform non-linear multi-dimensional multi-set weighted data fitting (see [[Curve fitting]] and [[Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm]]).

The gnuplot core code is programmed in [[C (programming language)|C]]. Modular subsystems for output via [[Qt (software)|Qt]], [[wxWidgets]], and LaTeX/TikZ/ConTeXt are written in [[C++]] and [[Lua (programming language)|Lua]].

[[File:Gnuplot-in-action.png|thumb|upright=1.4|gnuplot in interactive use]]
The code below creates the graph to the right.
<syntaxhighlight lang="gnuplot">
set title "Some Math Functions"
set xrange [-10:10]
set yrange [-2:2]
set zeroaxis
plot (x/4)**2, sin(x), 1/x
</syntaxhighlight>

[[File:Gnuplot.ogv|thumb|Sample video]]
{{Gallery
|width=240
|height=160
|File:Gnuplot tcp analysis.png|alt2=Thousands of dots plotted, forming a pattern|A [[scatter plot]] of samples from a text file
|File:Logarithmic spiral.svg|alt3=|A logarithmic spiral
}}

The name of this program was originally chosen to avoid conflicts with a program called "newplot", and was originally a compromise between "llamaplot" and "nplot".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/faq.html#x1-70001.2|title=gnuplot FAQ|website=Gnuplot.info|access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>

Support of Epidemic daily and weekly formats in Version 5.4.2 is a result of pandemic coronavirus data needs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/ReleaseNotes_5_4_2.html |title=Gnuplot Version 5.4.2 Release Notes |access-date=2021-06-08 |archive-date=2021-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608120649/http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/ReleaseNotes_5_4_2.html |url-status=live }}</ref>