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<title>GRASS GIS: d.linegraph</title>
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<h2>NAME</h2>
<em><b>d.linegraph</b></em> - Generates and displays simple line graphs in the active graphics monitor display frame.
<h2>KEYWORDS</h2>
display
<h2>SYNOPSIS</h2>
<b>d.linegraph</b><br>
<b>d.linegraph help</b><br>
<b>d.linegraph</b> <b>x_file</b>=<em>string</em> <b>y_file</b>=<em>string</em>[,<i>string</i>,...] [<b>directory</b>=<em>string</em>] [<b>y_color</b>=<em>string</em>[,<i>string</i>,...]] [<b>title_color</b>=<em>string</em>] [<b>x_title</b>=<em>string</em>] [<b>y_title</b>=<em>string</em>] [<b>title</b>=<em>string</em>] [--<b>verbose</b>] [--<b>quiet</b>]
<h3>Parameters:</h3>
<DL>
<DT><b>x_file</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Name of data file for X axis of graph</DD>
<DT><b>y_file</b>=<em>string[,<i>string</i>,...]</em></DT>
<DD>Name of data file(s) for Y axis of graph</DD>
<DT><b>directory</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Path to file location</DD>
<DD>Default: <em>.</em></DD>
<DT><b>y_color</b>=<em>string[,<i>string</i>,...]</em></DT>
<DD>Color for Y data</DD>
<DD>Options: <em>red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet,white,black,gray,brown,magenta,aqua,grey,cyan,purple</em></DD>
<DT><b>title_color</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Color for axis, tics, numbers, and title</DD>
<DD>Options: <em>red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet,white,black,gray,brown,magenta,aqua,grey,cyan,purple</em></DD>
<DD>Default: <em>black</em></DD>
<DT><b>x_title</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Title for X data</DD>
<DD>Default: <em></em></DD>
<DT><b>y_title</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Title for Y data</DD>
<DD>Default: <em></em></DD>
<DT><b>title</b>=<em>string</em></DT>
<DD>Title for Graph</DD>
<DD>Default: <em></em></DD>
</DL>
<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2>
<EM>d.linegraph</EM> is a primitive program to draw simple x,y line graphs
based on numerical data contained in separate files.
<P>
Data file format<BR>
The X and Y data files for the graph are essentially a column of numbers in
each file, with one input number per line. The program expects that each X
value will have a corresponding Y value, therefore the number of lines in
each data input file should be the same. Essentially, the X data becomes
the X axis reference to which the Y data is plotted as a line. Therefore,
the X data should be a monotonically increasing progression of numbers (i.e.
"1,2,3,..."; "0, 10, 100, 1000,..."; "...-5,-1,0,1,5..."). If multiple Y
data files are used, the Y axis scale will be based on the range of minimum
and maximum values from all Y files, then all Y data given will be graphed
according to that Y scale. Therefore, if multiple Y data inputs are used
with dissimilar units, the graph produced comparing the two will be
deceptive.
<P>
<DL>
<DT><B>directoryname</B>
<DD>Path to the directory where the input files are located. If this option
is not used, the <EM>d.linegraph</EM> looks for files in the current directory.
<DD>Example format: directory/usr/grass/data/graph
<DT><B>ycoloroption[,option,...]]</B>
<DD>Color to be used for drawing the lines in the graph. If multiple Y data
files are used, an equal number of colors may be used to control the colors
of the lines. Colors will be assigned to Y data in respect to the sequence
of instantiation on the command line. Options are listed below. By
default, a series of colors will be chosen by the program if none are
provided upon invocation.
<DD>Order of default colors: yellow, red, green, violet, blue, orange, gray,
brown, magenta, white, indigo).
<DT><B>titlecoloroption</B>
<DD>The color to be used for titles, axis lines, tics, and scale numbers.
<DD>Default: "white"
<DD>Color options: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet,
magenta, brown, gray, white, and black.
<DT><B>xtitlevalue</B>
<DD>Title to describe X data. Will be centered beneath the graph. Default
is no title unless the need for a unit descriptor is computed by the program
(i.e. X: title in hundreds). Also, see NOTES section (below) for a format
caveat for multi-word titles.
<DT><B>ytitlevalue</B>
<DD>Title to describe Y data. Will be centered beneath the X data title.
Default is no title unless the need for a unit descriptor is computed by
the program (i.e. Y: ttiittllee in thousands). Also, see NOTES section
(below) for a format caveat for multi-word titles. In the case of graphs
with multiple lines, one may wish to use more specific title placement by
using the <EM>d.text</EM> or <EM>v.label</EM> programs.
<DT><B>titlevalue</B>
<DD>Title to describe the graph. Will be centered over the top of graph.
Default is no title. See NOTES section (below) for a format caveat for
multi-word titles.
</DL>
<H2>NOTES</H2>
Since the command line parser is not amiable to multiple word inputs, to
input titles of more than one word, use the underscore character ("") to
represent spaces (" ").
<P>
Example: "titleCensusdata1990" would be printed over the graph as "Census
data 1990".
<P>
The way the program locates and labels tic marks is less than perfect: 1)
although distances between Y tics is proportional to the value, they are
not proportional on the X axis; 2) decimal values between -1 and 1 can be
printed on the X axis, but not on Y. (With respect to the later, the input
for Y values can all be multiplied by a factor of 10 before graphing).
<P>
It might be easier to use a 3rd party tool such as xgraph or GNUplot instead
of <em>d.linegraph</em>.
.
(You can make GNUplot output pretty by using its SVG or PostScript output
driver and converting that back into a rasterized image in a paint program)
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2>
<EM>
<A HREF="d.frame.html">d.frame</A>,
<A HREF="d.text.html">d.text</A>,
<A HREF="v.label.html">v.label</A>
</EM>
<H2>AUTHOR</H2>
Chris Rewerts, Agricultural Engineering, Purdue University
<p>
<i>Last changed: $Date: 2007-05-30 12:46:54 +0200 (Wed, 30 May 2007) $</i>
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