octave: Printing and Saving Plots
15.2.9 Printing and Saving Plots
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The ‘print’ command allows you to send plots to you printer and to save
plots in a variety of formats. For example,
print -dpsc
prints the current figure to a color PostScript printer. And,
print -deps foo.eps
saves the current figure to an encapsulated PostScript file called
‘foo.eps’.
The current graphic toolkits produce very similar graphic displays
but differ in their capability to display text and in print
capabilities. In particular, the OpenGL based toolkits such as ‘fltk’
and ‘qt’ do not support the "interpreter" property of text objects.
This means that when using OpenGL toolkits special symbols drawn with
the "tex" interpreter will appear correctly on-screen but will be
rendered with interpreter "none" when printing unless one of the
‘standalone’ (see below) modes is used. These modes provide access to
the pdflatex processor and therefore allow full use of LaTeX commands.
A complete example showing the capabilities of text printing using
the ‘-dpdflatexstandalone’ option is:
x = 0:0.01:3;
hf = figure ();
plot (x, erf (x));
hold on;
plot (x, x, "r");
axis ([0, 3, 0, 1]);
text (0.65, 0.6175, ['$\displaystyle\leftarrow x = {2\over\sqrt{\pi}}'...
'\int_{0}^{x}e^{-t^2} dt = 0.6175$']);
xlabel ("x");
ylabel ("erf (x)");
title ("erf (x) with text annotation");
set (hf, "visible", "off");
print (hf, "plot15_7.pdf", "-dpdflatexstandalone");
set (hf, "visible", "on");
system ("pdflatex plot15_7");
open ("plot15_7.pdf");
-- : print ()
-- : print (OPTIONS)
-- : print (FILENAME, OPTIONS)
-- : print (H, FILENAME, OPTIONS)
Print a plot, or save it to a file.
Both output formatted for printing (PDF and PostScript), and many
bitmapped and vector image formats are supported.
FILENAME defines the name of the output file. If the filename has
no suffix, one is inferred from the specified device and appended
to the filename. If no filename is specified, the output is sent
to the printer.
H specifies the handle of the figure to print. If no handle is
specified the current figure is used.
For output to a printer, PostScript file, or PDF file, the paper
size is specified by the figure’s ‘papersize’ property. The
location and size of the image on the page are specified by the
figure’s ‘paperposition’ property. The orientation of the page is
specified by the figure’s ‘paperorientation’ property.
The width and height of images are specified by the figure’s
‘paperposition(3:4)’ property values.
The ‘print’ command supports many OPTIONS:
‘-fH’
Specify the handle, H, of the figure to be printed. The
default is the current figure.
‘-PPRINTER’
Set the PRINTER name to which the plot is sent if no FILENAME
is specified.
‘-GGHOSTSCRIPT_COMMAND’
Specify the command for calling Ghostscript. For Unix and
Windows the defaults are "gs" and "gswin32c", respectively.
‘-color’
‘-mono’
Color or monochrome output.
‘-solid’
‘-dashed’
Force all lines to be solid or dashed, respectively.
‘-portrait’
‘-landscape’
Specify the orientation of the plot for printed output. For
non-printed output the aspect ratio of the output corresponds
to the plot area defined by the "paperposition" property in
the orientation specified. This option is equivalent to
changing the figure’s "paperorientation" property.
‘-TextAlphaBits=N’
‘-GraphicsAlphaBits=N’
Octave is able to produce output for various printers,
bitmaps, and vector formats by using Ghostscript. For bitmap
and printer output anti-aliasing is applied using
Ghostscript’s TextAlphaBits and GraphicsAlphaBits options.
The default number of bits are 4 and 1 respectively. Allowed
values for N are 1, 2, or 4.
‘-dDEVICE’
The available output format is specified by the option DEVICE,
and is one of:
‘ps’
‘ps2’
‘psc’
‘psc2’
PostScript (level 1 and 2, mono and color). The
OpenGL-based toolkits always generate PostScript level
3.0.
‘eps’
‘eps2’
‘epsc’
‘epsc2’
Encapsulated PostScript (level 1 and 2, mono and color).
The OpenGL-based toolkits always generate PostScript
level 3.0.
‘pslatex’
‘epslatex’
‘pdflatex’
‘pslatexstandalone’
‘epslatexstandalone’
‘pdflatexstandalone’
Generate a LaTeX file ‘FILENAME.tex’ for the text
portions of a plot and a file ‘FILENAME.(ps|eps|pdf)’ for
the remaining graphics. The graphics file suffix
.ps|eps|pdf is determined by the specified device type.
The LaTeX file produced by the ‘standalone’ option can be
processed directly by LaTeX. The file generated without
the ‘standalone’ option is intended to be included from
another LaTeX document. In either case, the LaTeX file
contains an ‘\includegraphics’ command so that the
generated graphics file is automatically included when
the LaTeX file is processed. The text that is written to
the LaTeX file contains the strings *exactly* as they
were specified in the plot. If any special characters of
the TeX mode interpreter were used, the file must be
edited before LaTeX processing. Specifically, the
special characters must be enclosed with dollar signs (‘$
... $’), and other characters that are recognized by
LaTeX may also need editing (.e.g., braces). The
‘pdflatex’ device, and any of the ‘standalone’ formats,
are not available with the Gnuplot toolkit.
‘epscairo’
‘pdfcairo’
‘epscairolatex’
‘pdfcairolatex’
‘epscairolatexstandalone’
‘pdfcairolatexstandalone’
Generate Cairo based output when using the Gnuplot
graphics toolkit. The ‘epscairo’ and ‘pdfcairo’ devices
are synonymous with the ‘epsc’ device. The LaTeX
variants generate a LaTeX file, ‘FILENAME.tex’, for the
text portions of a plot, and an image file,
‘FILENAME.(eps|pdf)’, for the graph portion of the plot.
The ‘standalone’ variants behave as described for
‘epslatexstandalone’ above.
‘ill’
‘aifm’
Adobe Illustrator (Obsolete for Gnuplot versions > 4.2)
‘canvas’
Javascript-based drawing on HTML5 canvas viewable in a
web browser (only available for the Gnuplot graphics
toolkit).
‘cdr’
‘corel’
CorelDraw
‘dxf’
AutoCAD
‘emf’
‘meta’
Microsoft Enhanced Metafile
‘fig’
XFig. For the Gnuplot graphics toolkit, the additional
options ‘-textspecial’ or ‘-textnormal’ can be used to
control whether the special flag should be set for the
text in the figure. (default is ‘-textnormal’)
‘gif’
GIF image (only available for the Gnuplot graphics
toolkit)
‘hpgl’
HP plotter language
‘jpg’
‘jpeg’
JPEG image
‘latex’
LaTeX picture environment (only available for the Gnuplot
graphics toolkit).
‘mf’
Metafont
‘png’
Portable network graphics
‘pbm’
PBMplus
‘pdf’
Portable document format
‘svg’
Scalable vector graphics
‘tikz’
‘tikzstandalone’
Generate a LaTeX file using PGF/TikZ format. The OpenGL-based
toolkits create a PGF file while Gnuplot creates a TikZ file.
The ‘tikzstandalone’ device produces a LaTeX document which
includes the TikZ file (‘tikzstandalone’ and is only available
for the Gnuplot graphics toolkit).
If the device is omitted, it is inferred from the file
extension, or if there is no filename it is sent to the
printer as PostScript.
‘-dGHOSTSCRIPT_DEVICE’
Additional devices are supported by Ghostscript. Some
examples are;
‘pdfwrite’
Produces pdf output from eps
‘ljet2p’
HP LaserJet IIP
‘pcx24b’
24-bit color PCX file format
‘ppm’
Portable Pixel Map file format
For a complete list, type ‘system ("gs -h")’ to see what
formats and devices are available.
When Ghostscript output is sent to a printer the size is
determined by the figure’s "papersize" property. When the
output is sent to a file the size is determined by the plot
box defined by the figure’s "paperposition" property.
‘-append’
Append PostScript or PDF output to a pre-existing file of the
same type.
‘-rNUM’
Resolution of bitmaps in pixels per inch. For both metafiles
and SVG the default is the screen resolution; for other
formats it is 150 dpi. To specify screen resolution, use
"-r0".
‘-loose’
‘-tight’
Force a tight or loose bounding box for eps files. The
default is loose.
‘-PREVIEW’
Add a preview to eps files. Supported formats are:
‘-interchange’
Provide an interchange preview.
‘-metafile’
Provide a metafile preview.
‘-pict’
Provide pict preview.
‘-tiff’
Provide a tiff preview.
‘-SXSIZE,YSIZE’
Plot size in pixels for EMF, GIF, JPEG, PBM, PNG, and SVG.
For PS, EPS, PDF, and other vector formats the plot size is in
points. This option is equivalent to changing the size of the
plot box associated with the "paperposition" property. When
using the command form of the print function you must quote
the XSIZE,YSIZE option. For example, by writing "-S640,480".
‘-FFONTNAME’
‘-FFONTNAME:SIZE’
‘-F:SIZE’
Use FONTNAME and/or FONTSIZE for all text. FONTNAME is
ignored for some devices: dxf, fig, hpgl, etc.
The filename and options can be given in any order.
Example: Print to a file using the pdf device.
figure (1);
clf ();
surf (peaks);
print figure1.pdf
Example: Print to a file using jpg device.
clf ();
surf (peaks);
print -djpg figure2.jpg
Example: Print to printer named PS_printer using ps format.
clf ();
surf (peaks);
print -dpswrite -PPS_printer
DONTPRINTYET See also: 
saveas XREFsaveas, hgsave XREFhgsave, *noteDONTPRINTYET See also: saveas XREFsaveas, hgsave XREFhgsave,
orient XREForient, figure XREFfigure.
-- : saveas (H, FILENAME)
-- : saveas (H, FILENAME, FMT)
Save graphic object H to the file FILENAME in graphic format FMT.
FMT should be one of the following formats:
‘ps’
PostScript
‘eps’
Encapsulated PostScript
‘jpg’
JPEG Image
‘png’
PNG Image
‘emf’
Enhanced Meta File
‘pdf’
Portable Document Format
All device formats specified in ‘print’ may also be used. If FMT
is omitted it is extracted from the extension of FILENAME. The
default format is "pdf".
clf ();
surf (peaks);
saveas (1, "figure1.png");
DONTPRINTYET See also: print XREFprint, hgsave XREFhgsave, *noteDONTPRINTYET See also: print XREFprint, hgsave XREFhgsave,
orient XREForient.
-- : orient (ORIENTATION)
-- : orient (HFIG, ORIENTATION)
-- : ORIENTATION = orient ()
-- : ORIENTATION = orient (HFIG)
Query or set the print orientation for figure HFIG.
Valid values for ORIENTATION are "portrait", "landscape", and
"tall".
The "landscape" option changes the orientation so the plot width is
larger than the plot height. The "paperposition" is also modified
so that the plot fills the page, while leaving a 0.25 inch border.
The "tall" option sets the orientation to "portrait" and fills the
page with the plot, while leaving a 0.25 inch border.
The "portrait" option (default) changes the orientation so the plot
height is larger than the plot width. It also restores the default
"paperposition" property.
When called with no arguments, return the current print
orientation.
If the argument HFIG is omitted, then operate on the current figure
returned by ‘gcf’.
See also: print XREFprint, saveas XREFsaveas.
‘print’ and ‘saveas’ are used when work on a plot has finished and
the output must be in a publication-ready format. During intermediate
stages it is often better to save the graphics object and all of its
associated information so that changes—to colors, axis limits, marker
styles, etc.—can be made easily from within Octave. The
‘hgsave’/‘hgload’ commands can be used to save and re-create a graphics
object.
-- : hgsave (FILENAME)
-- : hgsave (H, FILENAME)
-- : hgsave (H, FILENAME, FMT)
Save the graphics handle H to the file FILENAME in the format FMT.
If unspecified, H is the current figure as returned by ‘gcf’.
When FILENAME does not have an extension the default filename
extension ‘.ofig’ will be appended.
If present, FMT should be one of the following:
• ‘-binary’, ‘-float-binary’
• ‘-hdf5’, ‘-float-hdf5’
• ‘-V7’, ‘-v7’, ‘-7’, ‘-mat7-binary’
• ‘-V6’, ‘-v6’, ‘-6’, ‘-mat6-binary’
• ‘-text’
• ‘-zip’, ‘-z’
When producing graphics for final publication use ‘print’ or
‘saveas’. When it is important to be able to continue to edit a
figure as an Octave object, use ‘hgsave’/‘hgload’.
DONTPRINTYET See also: hgload XREFhgload, *notehdl2struct:
DONTPRINTYET See also: hgload XREFhgload, hdl2struct
XREFhdl2struct, saveas XREFsaveas, print XREFprint.
-- : H = hgload (FILENAME)
Load the graphics object in FILENAME into the graphics handle H.
If FILENAME has no extension, Octave will try to find the file with
and without the standard extension of ‘.ofig’.
DONTPRINTYET See also: hgsave XREFhgsave, *notestruct2hdl:
DONTPRINTYET See also: hgsave XREFhgsave, struct2hdl
XREFstruct2hdl.
Info Catalog
octave: Use of the interpreter Property
octave: High-Level Plotting
octave: Interacting with Plots