[SciPy-user] plotting with gplt

[R. Padraic Springuel]

If you're insistent about sticking with scipy's gnuplot, I've found that 
by far the best way to use the interface, and to unlock every gnuplot 
option, is to use the "gplt.load" command.  You first need to create a 
file with data you're going to plot, formated exactly as you would 
format it to bring it into gnuplot and plot it manually.  Then write a 
file that contains the gnuplot commands that you want to run, as you'd 
type them on the gnuplot command line.  Finally, from within scipy 
execute the command gplt.load('filename.txt').  This will load gnuplot 
and run the commands as if you had entered them in the gnuplot interface.

Its not the most elegant way to interface with gnuplot, but between the 
simplistic interface of scipy's gplt and this work around, you can 
create any kind of gnuplot you want without having to learn another 
package.  Generally I'd recommend using the simplistic gplt interface to 
draft your graphs, then when you know how you want them to look, or need 
to add features gplt doesn't support (like error bars) you use the 
method I described above.  I've written some routines to automate some 
of the above described methods, though there is still one more 
modification that I'd like to make.  However, if you're interested, I'll 
upload it to some web space so that it can be downloaded.

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R. Padraic Springuel
Teaching Assistant
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Maine
Bennet 214
Office Hours: Monday 10:00 - 11:00 am; Thursday 12:00 - 1:00 pm