TEK2PLOT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities TEK2PLOT(1)NAMEtek2plot - translate Tektronix files to other graphics
formats
SYNOPSIStek2plot [ options ] [ files ]
DESCRIPTIONtek2plot translates Tektronix graphics files to other for
mats, or displays them on an X Window System display. The
output format or display type is specified with the -T
option. The possible output formats and display types are
the same as those supported by graph(1), plot(1),
pic2plot(1), and plotfont(1). If an output file is pro
duced, it is written to standard output.
Options and file names may be interspersed on the command
line, but the options are processed before the file names
are read. If -- is seen, it is interpreted as the end of
the options. If no file names are specified, or the file
name - is encountered, the standard input is read.
OPTIONS
General Options
-T type
--display-type type
Select type as the output format or display type.
It may be "X", "png", "pnm", "gif", "svg", "ai",
"ps", "cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis", "tek",
or "meta" (the default). These refer respectively
to the X Window System, PNG (Portable Network
Graphics) format, portable anymap format
(PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF format that does not
use LZW encoding, the new XML-based Scalable Vector
Graphics format, the format used by Adobe Illustra
tor, Postscript or Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)
that can be edited with idraw(1), CGM format (by
default, confirming to the WebCGM profile), the
format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the
Hewlett-Packard PCL 5 printer language, the
Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, ReGIS graphics
format (which can be displayed by the dxterm(1)
terminal emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal),
Tektronix format itself, and device-independent GNU
metafile format. Unless type is "X", an output
file is produced and written to standard output.
Omitting the -T option is equivalent to specifying
-T meta. GNU metafile format may be translated to
other formats with plot(1).
-p n
--page-number n
Output only page number n, within the Tektronix
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file or sequence of Tektronix files that is being
translated. n must be a non-negative integer,
since a Tektronix file may consist of one or more
pages, numbered beginning with zero.
The default behavior if the -p option is not used
is to output all nonempty pages in succession. For
example, tek2plot-T X displays each Tektronix page
in its own X window. If the -T png, -T pnm, -T
gif, -T ai, or -T fig option is used, the default
behavior is to output only the first nonempty Tek
tronix page, since files in those output formats
contain only a single page of graphics.
Most Tektronix files consist of either one page
(page #0) or two pages (an empty page #0, and page
#1). Tektronix files produced by the GNU plotting
utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) are normally of
the latter sort.
-F name
--font-name name
Use the font name for rendering the native Tex
tronix fonts, if it is available. The default font
is "Courier" except for tek2plot-T png, tek2plot-T pnm, tek2plot-T gif, tek2plot-T hpgl, tek2plot-T regis, and tek2plot-T tek, for which it is
"HersheySerif". A list of available fonts can be
obtained with the --help-fonts option (see below).
If a font outside the Courier family is used, the
--position-chars option (see below) should probably
be specified.
The -F option is useful only if you have a Tek
tronix file that draws text using native Tektronix
fonts. Tektronix files produced by the GNU plot
ting utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) do not use
native Tektronix fonts: they use Hershey vector
fonts instead.
-W line_width
--line-width line_width
Set the width of lines, as a fraction of the width
of the display, to be line_width. A negative value
means that a default value should be used. This
value is format-dependent. The interpretation of
zero line width is also format-dependent (in some
output formats, a zero-width line is the thinnest
line that can be drawn; in others, a zero-width
line is invisible).
--bg-color name
Set the color used for the background to be name.
This is relevant only to tek2plot-T X, tek2plot-T
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png, tek2plot-T pnm, tek2plot-T gif, tek2plot-T
svg, tek2plot-T cgm, and tek2plot-T regis. An
unrecognized name sets the color to the default,
which is "white". The environment variable
BG_COLOR can equally well be used to specify the
background color. If the -T svg or -T cgm option
is used, an output file without a background may be
produced by setting the background color to "none".
If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transpar
ent PNG file or a transparent pseudo-GIF, respec
tively, may be produced by setting the TRANSPAR
ENT_COLOR environment variable to the name of the
background color.
--bitmap-size bitmap_size
Set the size of the graphics display in which the
plot will be drawn, in terms of pixels, to be
bitmap_size. The default is "570x570". This is
relevant only to plot -T X, plot -T png, plot -T
pnm, and plot -T gif. If you choose a rectangular
(non-square) window size, the fonts in the plot
will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by different
factors in the horizontal and vertical directions.
For plot -T X, this requires an X11R6 display. Any
font that cannot be scaled in this way will be
replaced by a default scalable font, such as the
vector font "HersheySerif".
The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally
well be used to specify the window size. For back
ward compatibility, the X resource Xplot.geometry
may be used instead.
--emulate-color option
If option is yes, replace each color in the output
by an appropriate shade of gray. This is seldom
useful, except when using ` tek2plot-T pcl to pre
pare output for a PCL 5 device. (Many monochrome
PCL 5 devices, such as monochrome LaserJets, do a
poor job of emulating color on their own.) You may
equally well request color emulation by setting the
environment variable EMULATE_COLOR to "yes".
--max-line-length max_line_length
Set the maximum number of points that a polygonal
line may contain, before it is flushed out, to be
max_line_length. If this flushing occurs, the
polygonal line will be split into two or more sub-
lines, though the splitting should not be notice
able. The default value of max_line_length is 500.
The reason for splitting long polygonal lines is
that some display devices (e.g., old Postscript
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printers and HP-GL pen plotters) have limited
buffer sizes. The environment variable
MAX_LINE_LENGTH can also be used to specify the
maximum line length.
--page-size pagesize
Set the size of the page on which the plot will be
positioned. This is relevant only to tek2plot-T
svg, tek2plot-T ai, tek2plot-T ps, tek2plot-T
cgm, tek2plot-T fig, tek2plot-T pcl, and tek2plot-T hpgl. The default is "letter", which means an
8.5 inch by 11 inch page. Any ISO page size in the
range "a0"..."a4" or ANSI page size in the range
"a"..."e" may be specified ("letter" is an alias
for "a" and "tabloid" is an alias for "b").
"legal" and "ledger" are recognized page sizes
also. The environment variable PAGESIZE can
equally well be used to specify the page size.
The graphics display in which the plot is drawn
will be a square region that would occupy nearly
the full width of the specified page. An alterna
tive size for the graphics display can be speci
fied. For example, the page size could be speci
fied as "letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or
"a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For all of the above
except tek2plot-T hpgl, the graphics display will,
by default, be centered on the page. For all of
the above except tek2plot-T svg and tek2plot-T
cgm, the graphics display may be repositioned manu
ally, by specifying the location of its lower left
corner, relative to the lower left corner of the
page. For example, the page size could be speci
fied as "letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or
"a4,xorigin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also pos
sible to specify an offset vector. For example,
the page size could be specified as "letter,xoff
set=1in", or "letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or
"a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM format
it is possible to specify the size of the graphics
display, but not its position.
--pen-color name
Set the pen color to be name. An unrecognized name
sets the pen color to the default, which is
"black".
--position-chars
Position the characters in each text string indi
vidually. If the text font is not a member of the
Courier family, and especially if it is not a
fixed-width font, this option is recommended. It
will improve the appearance of text strings, at the
price of making it difficult to edit the output
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file with xfig(1), idraw(1), or Illustrator.
--rotation angle
Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Rec
ognized values are "0", "90", "180", and "270".
"no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90",
respectively. The environment variable ROTATION
can also be used to specify a rotation angle.
--use-tek-fonts
Use the bitmap fonts that were used on the original
Tektronix 4010/4014 terminal. This option is rele
vant only to tek2plot-T X. The four relevant
bitmap fonts are distributed with most versions of
the GNU plotting utilities, under the names
"tekfont0"..."tekfont3". They can easily be
installed on any modern X Window System display.
For this option to work properly, you must also
select a window size of 1024x1024 pixels, either by
using the --bitmap-size 1024x1024 option or by set
ting the value of the Xplot.geometry resource.
This is because bitmap fonts, unlike the scalable
fonts that tek2plot normally uses, cannot be
rescaled.
This option is useful only if you have a file in
Tektronix format that draws text using native Tek
tronix fonts. Tektronix files produced by the GNU
plotting utilities (e.g., by graph -T tek) do not
use native Tektronix fonts: they use Hershey vector
fonts instead.
Options for Metafile Output
The following option is relevant only if the -T option is
omitted or if -T meta is used. In this case tek2plot out
puts a GNU graphics metafile, which must be translated to
other formats with plot(1).
-O
--portable-output
Output the portable (human-readable) version of GNU
metafile format, rather than a binary version (the
default). The format of the binary version is
machine-dependent.
Informational Options
--help Print a list of command-line options, and exit.
--help-fonts
Print a table of available fonts, and exit. The
table will depend on which output format or display
type is specified with the -T option. tek2plot-T
X, tek2plot-T svg, tek2plot-T ai, tek2plot-T ps,
tek2plot-T cgm, and tek2plot-T fig each support
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the 35 standard Postscript fonts. tek2plot-T svg,
tek2plot-T pcl, and tek2plot-T hpgl support the
45 standard PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support
a number of Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All
seven support a set of 22 Hershey vector fonts, as
do tek2plot-T png, tek2plot-T pnm, tek2plot-T
gif, tek2plot-T regis, and tek2plot-T tek.
tek2plot without a -T option in principle supports
any of these fonts, since its output must be trans
lated to other formats with plot(1).
The plotfont(1) utility may be used to obtain a
character map of any supported font.
--list-fonts
Like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single
column to facilitate piping to other programs. If
no output format is specified with the -T option,
the full set of supported fonts is listed.
--version
Print the version number of tek2plot and the plot
ting utilities package, and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR,
EMULATE_COLOR, MAX_LINE_LENGTH and ROTATION serve as back
ups for the options --bitmap-size, --page-size,
--bg-color, --emulate-color, --max-line-length, and
--rotation, respectively. The remaining environment vari
ables are specific to individual output formats.
tek2plot-T X, which pops up a window on an X Window Sys
tem display and draws graphics in it, checks the DISPLAY
environment variable. Its value determines the display
that will be used.
tek2plot-T png and tek2plot-T gif, which produce output
in PNG format and pseudo-GIF format respectively, are
affected by the INTERLACE environment variable. If its
value is "yes", the output will be interlaced. Also, if
the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable is set to the
name of a color, that color will be treated as transparent
in the output.
tek2plot-T pnm, which produces output in portable anymap
(PBM/PGM/PPM) format, is affected by the PNM_PORTABLE
environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output
will be in a human-readable format rather than binary (the
default).
tek2plot-T cgm, which produces output in CGM (Computer
Graphics Metafile) format, is affected by the CGM_MAX_VER
SION and CGM_ENCODING environment variables. By default,
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it produces a binary-encoded version of CGM version 3 for
mat. For backward compatibility, the version number may
be reduced by setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1".
Irrespective of version, the output CGM file will use the
human-readable clear text encoding if CGM_ENCODING is set
to "clear_text". However, only binary-encoded CGM files
conform to the WebCGM profile.
tek2plot-T pcl, which produces PCL 5 output for
Hewlett-Packard printers and plotters, is affected by the
environment variable PCL_ASSIGN_COLORS. It should be set
to "yes" when producing PCL 5 output for a color printer
or other color device. This will ensure accurate color
reproduction by giving the output device complete freedom
in assigning colors, internally, to its "logical pens".
If it is "no" then the device will use a fixed set of col
ored pens, and will emulate other colors by shading. The
default is "no" because monochrome PCL 5 devices, which
are much more common than colored ones, must use shading
to emulate color.
tek2plot-T hpgl, which produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language output, is affected by several environment vari
ables. The most important is HPGL_VERSION, which may be
set to "1", "1.5", or "2" (the default). "1" means that
the output should be generic HP-GL, "1.5" means that the
output should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter
and the HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-
GL with some HP-GL/2 extensions), and "2" means that the
output should be modern HP-GL/2. If the version is "1" or
"1.5" then the only available fonts will be vector fonts,
and all lines will be drawn with a default width (the -W
option will not work).
The position of the tek2plot-T hpgl graphics display on
the page can be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise by
setting the HPGL_ROTATE environment variable to "yes".
This is not the same as the rotation obtained with the
--rotation option, since it both rotates the graphics dis
play and repositions its lower left corner toward another
corner of the page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized
values for HPGL_ROTATE are "0", "90", "180", and "270".
"no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respec
tively. "180" and "270" are supported only if HPGL_VER
SION is "2" (the default).
By default, tek2plot-T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of
pens. Which pens are present may be specified by setting
the HPGL_PENS environment variable. If HPGL_VERSION is
"1", the default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black"; if
HPGL_VERSION is "1.5" or "2", the default value of
HPGL_PENS is "1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yel
low:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan". The format should be self-
explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS you may specify a color
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for any pen in the range #1...#31. All color names recog
nized by the X Window System may be used. Pen #1 must
always be present, though it need not be black. Any other
pen in the range #1...#31 may be omitted.
If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then tek2plot-T hpgl will also be
affected by the environment variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS.
If its value is "yes", then tek2plot-T hpgl will not be
restricted to the palette specified in HPGL_PENS: it will
assign colors to "logical pens" in the range #1...#31, as
needed. The default value is "no" because other than
color LaserJet printers and DesignJet plotters, not many
HP-GL/2 devices allow the assignment of colors to logical
pens.
The drawing of visible white lines is supported only if
HPGL_VERSION is "2" and the environment variable
HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its value is
"no" then white lines (if any), which are normally drawn
with pen #0, will not be drawn. This feature is to accom
modate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2 pen plotters, for
example, do not support the use of pen #0 to draw visible
white lines. Some older HP-GL/2 devices may, in fact,
malfunction if asked to draw opaque objects.
SEE ALSOplot(1), plotfont(1), and "The GNU Plotting Utilities Man
ual".
AUTHORStek2plot was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.ari
zona.edu). It incorporates a Tektronix parser written by
Edward Moy (moy@parc.xerox.com).
BUGS
Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.
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