This package allows running Gnuplot files from within the GNU Emacs editor. It features:
- Syntax highlighting and indentation for Gnuplot scripts.
- Pull-down menus for common Gnuplot-related tasks.
- Interactive Gnuplot sessions using
comint
. - Context-sensitive completion.
- Inline display of Gnuplot plots.
It is recommended to use GNU Emacs 28 or above, and Gnuplot version 5.0 or above.
The easiest way to install gnuplot
is to directly get it from NonGNU ELPA or
MELPA. After configuring Emacs to use MELPA, you should be able to install
gnuplot
by typing
M-x install-package RET gnuplot RET
or do M-x list-packages
and search for gnuplot
in the list. Note that there is a
different gnuplot-mode package on MELPA which is less featureful.
In order to customize Gnuplot, use M-x gnuplot-customize
or set the respective
customizable variables in your user configuration.
It is recommended to configure read-extended-command-predicate
in your Emacs
configuration, such that M-x
only completes commands relevant for the current
mode. For example gnuplot-*
commands are only shown in Gnuplot buffers.
Alternatively press the key M-X
instead of M-x
if you want relevant commands
only.
(setq read-extended-command-predicate #'command-completion-default-include-p)
gnuplot-mode
is enabled automatically for *.gp
files. These functions are useful
as entry points:
M-x run-gnuplot
- startgnuplot-comint-mode
REPL.M-x gnuplot-mode
- switch tognuplot-mode
in the current bufferM-x gnuplot-make-buffer
- open a new buffer, which is not visiting a file, and startgnuplot-mode
in that buffer.
When gnuplot-mode
is on, the following keybindings are available:
C-c C-l | send current line to gnuplot |
C-c C-v | send current line to gnuplot and move forward 1 line |
C-c C-r | send current region to gnuplot |
C-c C-b | send entire buffer to gnuplot |
C-c C-f | send a file to gnuplot |
C-c C-i | insert filename at point |
C-c C-n | negate set option on current line |
C-c C-c | comment region |
C-c C-o | set arguments for command at point |
S-<mouse-2> | set arguments for command under mouse cursor |
C-c C-d | read the gnuplot info manual |
C-c C-e | show gnuplot buffer |
C-c C-k | kill gnuplot process |
C-c C-z | customize gnuplot-mode |
M-TAB | complete keyword before point |
TAB | indent current line |
With the exception of the commands for sending commands to Gnuplot, most of the above commands also work in the Gnuplot comint buffer, in addition to the following:
M-C-p | plot the most recent script buffer line-by-line |
M-C-f | save the current script buffer and load that file |
C-c C-e | pop back to most recent script buffer |
By default gnuplot-mode
will try to parse your commands as you type and suggest
only relevant completion candidates on typing M-TAB
or TAB
. For example, with
point after the with
of a plot
command, tab completion will suggest only
plotting styles. This also enables more specific help topic lookup in the
Gnuplot info manual.
If the context-sensitivity annoys you, you can get simple non-context-sensitive
completion back by toggling gnuplot-context-sensitive-mode
.
By its nature, the completion code has to know a fair bit about the structure of
the gnuplot language. If you use it with an outdated version of gnuplot it will
make mistakes. Most of gnuplot 4.6’s command language is parsed correctly except
for the set terminal
commands.
gnuplot-mode
shows syntax hints in the modeline when eldoc-mode
is turned on and
context sensitivity is enabled. Both are enabled by default.
Plots are displayed inline in the Gnuplot Comint process buffer. This is handy
for trying things out without having to switch between Emacs and the Gnuplot
display. It requires Gnuplot and Emacs to have png
support. Call
gnuplot-external-display-mode
in a gnuplot-mode buffer to disable the feature.
Multiple users have reported issues when trying to work with gnuplot.el
on
Windows. Most notably, the Gnuplot process hangs after sending a first line of
input (this is a common Emacs issue on Windows, see here). More information on
gnuplot.el
and Windows can be found on these threads 1 and 2. You currently have
two solutions:
- Experiment using the
gnuplot-program
andgnuplot-program-args
variables. For instance the following setting has been reported to work (see here).(setq gnuplot-program "/path/to/cmdproxy.exe" gnuplot-program-args "/C /path/to/gnuplot.exe")
- Try the simpler gnuplot-mode package that sends the entire buffer to Gnuplot.
Since no
comint
is involved, it should function correctly, but you lose most features of this package.
Gnuplot’s pause -1
command, which waits for the user to press a key, is
problematic when running under Emacs. Sending pause -1
to the running Gnuplot
process will make Emacs appear to freeze. (It isn’t really crashed: typing C-g
will unlock it and let you continue). The workaround for now is to make Gnuplot
output a string before pausing, by doing pause -1 "Hit return"
or similar.
Some users have reported issues when trying to display unicode characters. This issue is likely due to your distribution bundling Gnuplot with editline instead of readline. Recompiling the source with support for Unicode fixes the issue until this issue is fixed upstream.
The files gnuplot.texi
and gnuplot-eldoc.el
are generated from the Gnuplot
source, which can be obtained from https://packages.debian.org/unstable/gnuplot.
Run make
inside the admin
directory to download the source and regenerate the
files.