CODEWITHSUNDEEP
plotscriptinggnuplot
Xofo
Xofo

Reputation: 1278

How to make gnuplot to NOT plot multiple lines?

I am plotting some data and I am getting multiple lines streaking across the plot. There should be one line, so I imagine that gnuplot is trying to fit the data and is joining points or something in a strange way. How can I get gnuplot to plot one like instead of multiple lines? Here is my script:

set term png font 'Liberation Sans,10' size 800,200
set output "data/values.png"
set style line 1 lt 1 lw 1 lc rgb "purple" pt -1
set xlabel "Time" font 'Liberation Sans,10'
set xdata time
set timefmt "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
set xtics font 'Liberation Sans,10'
set ytics font 'Liberation Sans,10'
set autoscale y
plot "data.txt" using 1:5 ls 1 smooth bezier with lines

Output of the gnuplot script

Upvotes: 0

Views: 199

Answers (1)

Miguel
Miguel

Reputation: 7627

You can use sort to sort your data. Consider the following data file which I have generated consistent with your time format:

2000-12-21 12:32:05 1
2001-11-21 12:32:05 2
2000-12-20 12:32:05 3
2000-12-20 12:32:04 4

Typing sort data.txt will yield the correct ordering:

2000-12-20 12:32:04 4
2000-12-20 12:32:05 3
2000-12-21 12:32:05 1
2001-11-21 12:32:05 2

You can invoke this within gnuplot by using a special input name plot "< sort data.txt" ...:

set xdata time
set timefmt "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
plot "data.txt" using 1:3 w l

enter image description here

set xdata time
set timefmt "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
plot "< sort data.txt" using 1:3 w l

enter image description here

You can consult the sort documentation if you need more powerful sorting with respect to your data format.

Upvotes: 1

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