CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gnuplotini
MondSemmel
MondSemmel

Reputation: 31

gnuplot initialization in Windows 7

I want gnuplot to load an initialization file on startup. According to the manual, in Windows systems, it is called GNUPLOT.INI. (It shouldn't matter if I call it gnuplot.ini, right? I tried both, though.)

According to answers like here: gnuplot configuration file I'm supposed to put a file called gnuplot.ini in my HOME directory, and then everything should work. (Alternatively, see the manual at http://www.gnuplot.info/docs_4.6/gnuplot.pdf, page 38.)

1) What is a "HOME" directory in Windows? Where is it in Windows 7?

2) The manual mentions that I could change this default directory by changing the environment variable GNUPLOT. But it doesn't explain how to change environment variables in gnuplot, or even really what they are.

Basically, everyone refers me to the section in the manual, which I don't understand.

Furthermore, also from the manual: "When gnuplot is run, it first looks for a system-wide initialization fi le named gnuplotrc. The location of this fi le is determined when the program is built and is reported by show loadpath."

If I run "show loadpath" in gnuplot, it says:

"loadpath from GNUPLOT_LIB is "C:\Program Files (x86)\gnuplot\demo"

gnuplotrc is read from share"

1) There is no file called gnuplotrc in that folder.

2) No file ending is specified. Does the manual refer to x.gnuplotrc or gnuplotrc.x or something else?

3) Also, what does "read from share" mean?

I appreciate your help.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2492

Answers (3)

serge boisse
serge boisse

Reputation: 49

On windows, add the following line at the end of gnuplotrc:

load "C:\\Users\\username\\GNUPLOT.INI"

(replacing "username" with your user name, and with doubled backslashes !)

then you can put your GNUPLOT.INI file in your home directory

Upvotes: 0

MondSemmel
MondSemmel

Reputation: 31

I finally managed to solve the problem above. Maybe this solution can help someone else. So:

1) The HOME directory of your OS can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_directory.

2) Even after putting a file called gnuplot.ini into my HOME directory, gnuplot didn't consistently initialize with it. In fact, it only did it once, and I still don't know why.

3) The cryptic message "gnuplotrc is read from share" actually means that gnuplot searches for the initialization file "gnuplotrc" (without file ending) in the folder (install directory of gnuplot) \ share .

4) Placing the file called "gnuplotrc" into the folder (install directory of gnuplot) \share\ finally worked. Now gnuplot initializes from this file every time I restart gnuplot.

Upvotes: 2

MondSemmel
MondSemmel

Reputation: 31

An update: Other non-Linux users may be as unaware of what the "home directory" of an OS is as myself. Wikipedia finally gave me the answer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_directory So the Home directory in Windows 7 was (root) \Users\ (username).

Then I placed my gnuplot.ini in that folder, and when I started wgnuplot.exe and typed "plot sin(x)", it finally had the settings I wanted.

I thought I had finally solved my problem. I closed gnuplot. Then I changed a line in gnuplot.ini, saved it, and afterwards started gnuplot again. gnuplot was wholly unaffected by my change in gnuplot.ini. (I verified this with the option "show all".)

So as far as I can tell, I managed to correctly initialize gnuplot ONCE, but it doesn't properly intialize via gnuplot.ini every time?! What gives?

Upvotes: 0

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