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<H1><A NAME="SECTION020160000000000000000"></A>
<A NAME="linetype"></A><A NAME="1081"></A>
<A NAME="colors"></A><A NAME="1083"></A>
<BR>
Linetype, colors, and styles
</H1>
Each gnuplot terminal type provides a set of distinct <TT>"</TT>linetypes<TT>"</TT>. These may
differ in color, in thickness, in dot/dash pattern, or in some combination of
color and dot/dash. The default linetypes for a particular terminal can be
previewed by issuing the <B>test</B> command after setting the terminal type.
The pre-defined colors and dot/dash patterns are not guaranteed to be
consistent for all terminal types, but all terminals use the special linetype
-1 to mean a solid line in the primary foreground color (normally black).
By default, successive functions or datafiles plotted by a single command will
be assigned successive linetypes. You can override this default by specifying
a particular linetype for any function, datafile, or plot element.
<P>
Examples:
<P>
<BR>
<PRE>
plot "foo", "bar" # plot two files using linetypes 1, 2
plot sin(x) linetype 4 # terminal-specific linetype color 4
plot sin(x) lt -1 # black
</PRE>
<BR>
<P>
<A NAME="1089"></A>
For many terminal types it is also possible to assign user-defined colors
using explicit rgb (red, green, blue) values, named colors, or color values
that refer to the current PM3D palette.
<P>
Examples:
<P>
<BR>
<PRE>
plot sin(x) lt rgb "violet" # one of gnuplot's named colors
plot sin(x) lt rgb "#FF00FF" # explicit RGB triple in hexadecimal
plot sin(x) lt palette cb -45 # whatever color corresponds to -45
# in the current cbrange of the palette
plot sin(x) lt palette frac 0.3 # fractional value along the palette
</PRE>
<BR>
<P>
See <B>show colornames (p. <A HREF="node190.html#show_colornames"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="1093"></A></B>, <B>set palette (p. <A HREF="node247.html#set_palette"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="1095"></A></B>, <B>cbrange (p. <A HREF="node332.html#cbrange"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="1097"></A></B>.
<P>
For terminals that support dot/dash patterns, each default linetype has both
a dot-dash pattern and a default color. However, you can override the default
color by using the keyword <B>linecolor</B>, abbreviated <B>lc</B>. For example, the
postscript terminal provides a dashed blue line as linetype 3. The plot
commands below use this same dash pattern for three plots, one in blue (the
default), another in red (the default for linetype 1), and a third in gold.
<P>
Example:
<P>
<BR>
<PRE>
set term postscript dashed color
plot 'foo' lt 3, 'baz' lt 3 linecolor 1, 'bar' lt 3 lc rgb 'gold'
</PRE>
<BR>
<P>
Lines can have additional properties such as linewidth. You can associate
these various properties, as well as equivalent properties for point symbols,
into user-defined <TT>"</TT>line styles<TT>"</TT> using the command <B>set style line</B>. Once
you have defined a linestyle, you can use it in a plot command to control
the appearance of one or more plot elements.
<P>
Examples:
<P>
<BR>
<PRE>
# define a new line style with terminal-independent color cyan,
# linewidth 3, and associated point type 6 (a circle with a dot in it).
set style line 5 lt rgb "cyan" lw 3 pt 6
plot sin(x) with linespoints ls 5 # user-defined line style 5
</PRE>
<BR>
<P>
See <B>linestyle (p. <A HREF="node268.html#linestyle"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="1108"></A></B>, <B>set style line (p. <A HREF="node268.html#set_style_line"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="1110"></A></B>.
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<!--Table of Child-Links-->
<A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></A>
<UL>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html1267"
HREF="node38.html">Colorspec</A>
<UL>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html1268"
HREF="node39.html">Rgbcolor variable</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html1269"
HREF="node40.html">Linecolor variable</A>
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<ADDRESS>
2010-08-17
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