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Function List:

C++ API

: 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 paperpositon(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 FLTK graphics toolkit generates PostScript level 3.0.

eps
eps2
epsc
epsc2

Encapsulated PostScript (level 1 and 2, mono and color). The FLTK graphic toolkit generates 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. For the FLTK toolkit the result is PGF. The ‘tikzstandalone’ device produces a LaTeX document which includes the TikZ file (‘tikzstandalone’ 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

See also: saveas, hgsave, orient, figure.

Package: octave