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Dataplot: Lines

Introduction Dataplot can draw a curve as a character or plot symbol at each point, as a connected line, as a spike from the point to a base, as a bar from the point to a base, or as any combination of the above (including drawing none or all of them). The choice is determined by the LINE, CHARACTER, SPIKE, and BAR commands. The switches for these commands work independently of each other.
Available Line Types The following table displays the available line types in Dataplot. Note that Dataplot generates dash and dot patterns using the hardware capabilities of the given graphics device. This means that the actual appearance of a dash pattern can vary depending on the specific graphics device used.
    The Available Line Types Are
    BLANK, BL, NONE, or NO no lines
    SOLID or SO solid lines
    DOT, DOTTED, or DO dotted lines
    DASHED, DASHED, or DA dashed lines
    DASH1 or DA1 type 1 dashed lines
    DASH2 or DA2 type 2 dashed lines
    DASH2 or DA3 type 3 dashed lines
    DASH4 or DA4 type 4 dashed lines
Use of Short Forms The short designations (e.g., BL for BLANK, SO for SOLID, DA3 for DASH3) allow for the specification of a large number of line types on a single command line, as in
    LINES SO SO SO SO SO DO DO DO DO DO ...
      DA DA DA DA DA
How Dataplot Determines Which Line Setting to Use

For single-trace plots, as from

    PLOT Y X
Dataplot makes use of the first line type specified. For multi-trace plots, as from
    PLOT Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 VS X
    PLOT Y X TAG

Dataplot makes use of the respective line types for each trace; thus the first line type defines the type for the first trace, the second line type defines the type for the second trace, and so forth.

Sample Dataplot Code In addition to a line style, the color and thickness of lines can also be set by the user. For example, the following Dataplot code
    SERIAL READ LEAD
    164 426 59 98 312 263 607 497 213 54 160 262 547 325 419 94 70
    END OF DATA
    SERIAL READ POT
    106 175 61 79 94 121 424 328 107 218 140 179 246 231 245 339 99
    END OF DATA
    LET N = SIZE LEAD
    LET X = SEQUENCE 1 1 N
    .
    MULTIPLOT 2 2
    MULTIPLOT CORNER COORDINATES 0 0 100 100
    LINE DASH DOT
    TITLE DASHED LINES
    PLOT POT LEAD VS X
    .
    LINE SOLID ALL
    LINE THICKNESS 0.2 0.3
    TITLE THICK LINES
    PLOT POT LEAD VS X
    .
    LINE THICKNESS 0.2 ALL
    LINE COLOR BLUE RED
    TITLE LINE COLOR
    PLOT POT LEAD VS X
    END OF MULTIPLOT
Dataplot Graph generated the following plot.

Plot of different line types, thicknesses, and colors

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Date created: 06/05/2001
Last updated: 09/20/2016

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