Dataplot Reference Manual, Volume 1, Chapter 2 Introduction

Dataplot Reference Manual
Volume 1: Commands

Chapter 2: Graphics Commands Introduction

DATAPLOT supports a wide range of graphics commands. The PLOT command is the primary command for generating 2D graphs. It supports numerous formats and options and is both flexible and powerful. In addition, DATAPLOT provides a large number of specialized graphics formats. These can be broken down into the following categories.

X-Y Plots

PLOT	Generate a plot of variables and/or functions.
ERROR BAR PLOT	Generate a plot with error bars.
IMAGE PLOT	Render an image.
VECTOR PLOT	Generate a vector plot (pairs of points connected with arrows).

3-D Plots

3D-PLOT	Generate a 3-dimensional plot of variables and/or functions.
CONTOUR PLOT	Generate a contour plot.
DISCRETE CONTOUR PLOT	Generate a discrete contour plot (also known as a heat map).

Distributional Plots

... ANDERSON DARLING PLOT	Generate an Anderson-Darling goodness of fit plot.
AVERAGE SHIFTED HISTOGRAM	Generate an average shifted histogram.
... BIHISTOGRAM	Generate a bihistogram (absolute or relative frequencies).
BOX-COX HOMOSCEDASTICITY PLOT	Generate a Box-Cox homoscedasticity plot.
BOX-COX LINEARITY PLOT	Generate a Box-Cox linearity plot.
BOX-COX NORMALITY PLOT	Generate a Box-Cox normality plot.
... CHI-SQUARE PLOT	Generate a chi-square goodness of fit plot.
... DISTRIBUTIONAL BOOTSTRAP PLOT	Generate a bootstrap plot for a given distribution.
... DISTRIBUTIONAL FIT PLOT	Generate a tabulation plot based on the results of the BEST DISTRIBUTIONAL FIT command.
EMPRICAL CDF PLOT	Generate an empirical cdf plot.
EMPRICAL QUANTILE PLOT	Generate an empirical quantile plot.
FRECHET PLOT	Generate a Frechet plot.
... FREQUENCY PLOT	Generate a frequency plot (absolute or relative frequencies, cumulative frequencies).
... HISTOGRAM	Generate a histogram (absolute or relative frequencies, cumulative frequencies).
KERNEL DENSITY PLOT	Generate a kernel density plot.
... KOLMOGOROV SMIRMOV PLOT	Generate a Kolmogorov Smirnov goodness of fit plot.
LORENZ CURVE	Generate a Lorenz curve.
NORMAL PLOT	Generate a Normal plot (a variation of the normal probability plot).
ORD PLOT	Generate an Ord plot.
PERCENT POINT PLOT	Generate a percent point plot (also known as a quantile plot).
PIE CHART	Generate a pie chart.
POISSON PLOT	Generate a Poisson chart.
... PROBABILITY PLOT	Generate a probability plot.
... PPCC PLOT	Generate a probability plot correlation coefficient plot.
QUANTILE-QUANTILE PLOT	Generate a quantile-quantile plot.
... ROOTOGRAM	Generate a rootogram.
SHIFT PLOT	Generate a shift plot.
STEM AND LEAF PLOT	Generate a stem and leaf plot.
STRIP PLOT	Generate a strip plot (also referred to as a dot plot).
SYMMETRY PLOT	Generate a symmetry plot.
TRUNCATED INFORMATIVE QUANTILE PLOT	Generate a truncated informative quantile plot.
TUKEY MEAN DIFFERENCE PLOT	Generate a Tukey mean-difference plot.
4 PLOT	Generate a 4 plot (run sequence plot, lag plot, histogram, normal probability plot on one page).

Time Series Plots

ALLAN VARIANCE PLOT	Generate an Allan variance plot.
ALLAN STANDARD DEVIATION PLOT	Generate an Allan standard deviation plot.
COMOVEMENT PLOT	Generate a comovement plot.
COMPLEX DEMODULATION PLOT	Generate a complex demodulation plot.
... CORRELATION PLOT	Generate an auto-, cross-, or partial auto-correlation plot.
LAG ... PLOT	Generate a lag plot.
... PERIODOGRAM	Generate a periodogram plot.
RUN SEQUENCE PLOT	Generate a run sequence plot.
SEASONAL SUBSERIES PLOT	Generate a seasonal subseries plot.
... SPECTRAL PLOT	Generate various types of spectral plots.

Regression/Fitting Plots

CCPR PLOT	Generate a component and component-plus-residual CCPR plot.
PARTIAL LEVERAGE PLOT	Generate a partial leverage plot.
PARTIAL REGRESSION PLOT	Generate a partial regression plot.
PARTIAL RESIDUAL PLOT	Generate a partial residual plot.
RF SPREAD PLOT	Generate a residuals-fitted (RF) spread plot.
SPREAD LOCATION PLOT	Generate a spread-location (SL) plot.
6-PLOT	Generate 6 plots useful for analyzing fits.

Multivariate Plots

ANDREWS PLOT	Generate Andrews plots.
CONDITION PLOT	Generate a condition plot.
FACTOR PLOT	Generate a factor plot.
PARALLEL COORDINATES PLOT	Generate a parallel coordinates plot.
PROFILE PLOT	Generate a profile plot.
SCATTER PLOT MATRIX	Generate a scatter plot matrix.
STAR PLOT	Generate a star plot.
SYMBOL PLOT	Generate a symbol plot (plot character attributes such as size and color set by other variables).

Design of Experiments/Analysis of Variance Plots

BIVARIATE NORMAL CONFIDENCE REGION PLOT	Generate a bivariate normal confidence region plot.
BIVARIATE NORMAL TOLERANCE REGION PLOT	Generate a bivariate normal confidence region plot.
... BLOCK PLOT	Generate a block plot.
BOX PLOT	Generate a box plot.
CONSENSUS MEAN PLOT	Generate a consensus mean plot.
DEX CONTOUR PLOT	Generate a linear dex contour plot.
DEX SCATTER PLOT	Generate a dex scatter plot.
DEX SIGN PLOT	Generate a dex sign plot.
DEX ... ABSOLUTE EFFECTS PLOT	Generate a dex absolute effects plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... EFFECTS PLOT	Generate a dex effects plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... PARETO PLOT	Generate a dex Pareto plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... PARETO ABSOLUTE EFFECTS PLOT	Generate a dex Pareto absolute effects plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... PARETO EFFECTS PLOT	Generate a dex Pareto effects plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... PLOT	Generate a dex plot for a given statistic.
DEX ... YOUDEN PLOT	Generate a dex Youden plot for a given statistic.
I PLOT	Generate an I plot.
INTERACTION PLOT	Generate an interaction plot.
POINCARE PLOT	Generate a Poincare plot.
VIOLIN PLOT	Generate a violin plot (a combination of a box plot and a kernel density plot).
YATES CUBE PLOT	Generate a Yates cube plot.
YOUDEN PLOT	Generate a Youden plot.

Statistics Plots

ANOP PLOT	Generate an analysis of proportions plot.
BLAND ALTMAN PLOT	Generate a Bland-Altman plot for paired measurements.
BOOTSTRAP ... PLOT	Generate a bootstrap plot for a given statistic.
... CROSS TABULATION PLOT	Generate a statistic versus a cross tabulated index plot
... CUMULATIVE STATISTIC PLOT	Generate a plot of the cumulative value of a statistic.
FLUCTUATION PLOT	Generate a fluctuation plot.
FRACTAL PLOT	Generate a fractal plot.
HOMOSCEDASTICITY PLOT	Generate a homoscedasticity plot.
INFLUENCE CURVE	Generate an influence curve.
JACKNIFE ... PLOT	Generate a jacknife plot for a given statistic.
... MOVING STATISTIC PLOT	Generate a plot of the moving value of a statistic.
PARETO PLOT	Generate a Pareto plot.
PHASE PLANE DIAGRAM	Generate a phase plane diagram.
... STATISTIC PLOT	Generate a statistic (versus data subset) plot
TABULATION PLOT	Generate a tabulation plot.
TRILINEAR PLOT	Generate a trilinear plot.
... WINDOW STATISTIC PLOT	Generate a statistic (versus data slices) plot

Reliability/Extreme Value Plots

CME PLOT	Generate a conditional mean exceedance plot.
DUANE PLOT	Generate a Duane plot.
KAPLAN MEIER PLOT	Generate a Kaplan Meier plot.
PEAKS OVER THRESHOLD PLOT	Generate a peaks over threshold plot.
REPAIR PLOT	Generate a repair plot.
TAIL AREA PLOT	Generate a tail area plot.
TOTAL TIME ON TEST PLOT	Generate a total time on test plot.
WEIBULL PLOT	Generate a Weibull plot.

Quality Control Plots

C CONTROL CHART	Generate a C control chart.
CUSUM CONTROL CHART	Generate a cumulative sum (cusum) control chart.
EWMA CONTROL CHART	Generate an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart.
HOTELLING CONTROL CHART	Generate a Hotelling multivariate control chart.
MOVING MEAN CONTROL CHART	Generate a moving mean control chart.
MOVING RANGE CONTROL CHART	Generate a moving range control chart.
MOVING SD CONTROL CHART	Generate a moving standard deviation control chart.
NP CONTROL CHART	Generate an NP control chart.
P CONTROL CHART	Generate an P control chart.
Q ... CONTROL CHART	Generate Quesenberry type control charts.
R CHART	Generate a range control chart.
S CHART	Generate a standard deviation control chart.
U CONTROL CHART	Generate a U control chart.
XBAR CHART	Generate a mean control chart.

Interlaboratory Analysis/Proficiency Analysis Plots

COCHRAN VARIANCE PLOT	Generate a Cochran variance plot.
H CONSISTENTCY PLOT	Generate an h-consistentcy plot.
ISO 13528 PLOT	Generate a z-score versus laboratory average (ISO 13528) plot.
ISO 13528 CONTROL CHART	Generate an ISO 13528 control chart.
ISO 13528 CUSUM CONTROL CHART	Generate an ISO 13528 CUSUM control chart.
ISO 13528 RLP PLOT	Given a response variable containing z-scores and associated variables containing laboratory id's and material id's, generate a plot of relative laboratory performance versus the rescaled sum.
ISO 13528 Z-SCORE PLOT	Plot the average z-score (or j-score) for each material/round combination (these are also referred to as zone plots).
K CONSISTENTCY PLOT	Generate an k-consistentcy plot.
NORMAL KERNEL DENSITY MIXTURE PLOT	Generate a normal kernel density mixture plot.
TWO FACTOR PLOT	Generate a two factor plot.
TWO WAY PLOT	Generate a two way plot.

Classification and Categorical Plots

ASSOCIATION PLOT	Generate an association plot.
BINARY TABULATION PLOT	Generate a binary tabulation plot.
CLASSIFICATION SCATTER PLOT	Generate a classification scatter plot.
CLASSIFICATION STATISTIC PLOT	Generate a classification statistic plot.
ROC CURVE	Generate a ROC curve.
ROSE PLOT	Generate a Rose plot.
SIEVE PLOT	Generate a sieve plot.

The ... in some of the commands indicates user-defined options for the command, as in

DATAPLOT provides a great deal of flexibility in controlling the elements of a plot. For example, each plot trace can be drawn as a line, a character, a bar, or a spike. The settings for each of these is independent of the others. The chapter on Plot Control documents the commands for controlling the plot features.

The flexibility in controlling the plot attributes and features means that it is possible to create specialized chart formats not listed above. For example, various types of bar charts can be created from the standard PLOT command (and setting the LINE and BAR attributes appropriately). Check the various LINE, CHARACTER, BAR, and SPIKE attribute setting commands in the Plot Control chapter. It is also straightforward to change the default appearance of the supported charts with these attribute setting commands.

There are separate chapters that discuss topics such as available line styles and plot characters.

Multiple curves per plot

DATAPLOT can generate multiple curves per plot. For example,

The first plot command draws two curves (Y1 and Y2) against a common x coordinate while the second PLOT command plots two curves with different x coordinates. When drawing multiple curves, DATAPLOT uses the concept of “traces.” A trace is a connected set of points. Points in the same trace are plotted with the same attributes. In the above example, Y1 is trace 1 and Y2 is trace 2. This is used when setting the attributes for a curve. For example, Y1 is drawn as a solid line with no character while Y2 is drawn as an O with no connected line. The attribute setting commands (LINE, CHARACTER, LINE COLOR, LINE THICKNESS, etc.) specify the attributes for up to 100 traces. When a plot is generated, the first trace uses the first entry from each of the attribute setting commands, the second trace uses the second entries, and so on.

The ability to define traces is also useful in creating specialized chart formats. For example, it is easy to create a curve that is solid, then dashed for a certain number of points, and then solid again. This is done by creating a “tag” variable and then entering a command like PLOT Y X TAG. The variable TAG identifies those points in Y and X which are plotted with common attributes. The documentation for the PLOT command discusses the use of tag variables in more detail.

Overlaying plots

By default, DATAPLOT erases the screen at the beginning of a plot. The PRE-ERASE OFF command suppresses this initial screen erase and can be used to overlay plots on the same frame. If you do this, be sure to use the XLIMITS and YLIMITS command to set constant scales. The command LIMITS FREEZE (after the first plot) can be used if you do not know what your data limits are (this assumes the scales set for the first plot will contain the data for subsequent plots which may or may not be true). You may also want to suppress certain plot elements for subsequent plots (e.g., FRAME OFF, TIC MARKS OFF, TIC LABELS OFF) to avoid redrawing significant portions of a plot. However, this step is not required (it just saves plotting time).

Multiple plots per page

DATAPLOT provides three methods for positioning multiple plots on a page.

The MULTIPLOT command allows you to specify an arbitrary number of rows and columns. It splits the page up into these rows and columns and each subsequent command that generates a plot simply moves to the next row and column position on the page. There is no restriction on the type of plot command that you can use. See the MULTIPLOT command in the Plot Control chapter for details.
The WINDOW CORNER COORDINATES and the FRAME CORNER COORDINATES commands let you specify the portion of the page to use for the next plot. These can be used in conjunction with the PRE-ERASE OFF command to generate multiple plots per page.
Using the WINDOW CORNER COORDINATES (or the FRAME CORNER COORDINATES) command is not as easy as using the MULTIPLOT command, but it is more flexible in that you can position the plot anywhere. This allows you to do some things that the MULTIPLOT command does not. For example, you can draw a small plot inside the frame of regular size plot.
The EMBED command allows you to define subplot areas within a larger plot.

Plotting data subsets

DATAPLOT allows data subsets to be plotted by using the keywords SUBSET, EXCEPT or FOR. The SUBSET and EXCEPT keywords select subsets based on the values of one or more variables. The variable defining the subset need not be one of the variables being plotted. The FOR keyword selects subsets based on the row number (e.g., plot the first 10 rows or plot every fifth row).