Chapter 5. Doing it with style
This chapter covers
The following three chapters describe the different ways to control the appearance of a plot: how to make it look just right. In this chapter, we’ll discuss the various ways to display data, and in the next chapter we’ll talk about all the other stuff that goes onto a plot, such as labels, borders, arrows, and similar decorations. Since axes and their labels can provide so much relevant information about a plot, they’ve been given their own chapter (chapter 7) which is the third and last in this part.
This chapter consists of three parts. First I describe the syntax for choosing a specific style for a plot. Then I’ll give a comprehensive, illustrated catalog of available styles. And finally, I’ll talk about ways you can define your own custom styles.
Only the first section in this chapter is required reading, because here is where I explain how to choose plot styles and where I introduce the important concept of terminal capabilities. For the rest of this chapter, feel free to just look at the figures so that you get a sense for the kinds of plots that gnuplot can create. You can always come back to this chapter when you need a specific plot type.