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From: sfeam <sfeam@users.sourceforge.net>
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
Subject: Re: plotting function won't work
Followup-To: comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:42:29 -0800
Organization: gnuplot development team
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ericgamliel wrote:

> I'm new to gnuplot.  I installed gnuplot 4.4 on my MacBook running
> Snow Leopard.  The install was via macports, so all the dependencies
> were installed as well.  I try to do some thing simple like, from a
> bash shell type [code] gnuplot [\code] to open gnuplot.  Then I type
> [code] plot x [\code].  I'm told a graph of a straight line should
> appear.  However this does not happen.

What does gnuplot say when it starts up?
It should tell you what terminal type it is defaulting to.

Like this:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
        G N U P L O T
        Version 4.4 patchlevel 4
        last modified November 2011
        System: Linux 2.6.33.7-desktop-2mnb

        Copyright (C) 1986-1993, 1998, 2004, 2007-2011
        Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others

        gnuplot home:     http://www.gnuplot.info
        faq, bugs, etc:   type "help seeking-assistance"
        immediate help:   type "help"
        plot window:      hit 'h'

Terminal type set to 'wxt'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%



> 
> I have even tried creating a post-script using the commands
> [code] plot x
> set term postscript eps monochrome dashed ’Times-Roman’ 28
> set output ’myplot.ps’ [\code]
> 
> but the file myplot.ps is empty.

Here the problem is clear. You must select the output device first,
and only then plot to it.   So your postscript file is empty because
you didn't actually plot anything to it.


> While trying to solve this problem i
> also noticed that I should presumably have a startup file '.gnuplot'
> in my home directory.  This file is missing.

That's fine.   You don't need that file.  It's just a place you can
put extra initialization commands that otherwise you would have to
type every time.  For instance, if there is some function MyFunc(x)
that you want easy access to but is not in gnuplot's standard function 
collection, you could define it there.



> Can someone help me
> understand what's happening?
> 
> Thank you