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gnuplot ASCII graph is amazing. I'd like to include gnuplot dumb ASCII graph results in babel code block.

#+BEGIN_SRC gnuplot :results output :file gnuplot-dumb-plot.txt
set term dumb
set yrange [0:1.5]
plot [-2:2] exp(-x*x)
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:

Alas, first line of gnuplot-dumb-plot.txt includes ^L line feed control code.

Therefore, #+RESULTS: does not work.

Adding another #+INCLUDE: with example block specified does work.

#+INCLUDE: gnuplot-dumb-plot.txt example

or excluding first line with :lines specified,

#+INCLUDE: gnuplot-dumb-plot.txt example :lines "2-"

or by sed deleting first line

#+BEGIN_SRC sh
sed -e '1d' gnuplot-dumb-plot.txt
#+END_SRC

work, but are not elegant.

#+RESULTS:
#+begin_example
      +--------+-------+--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  1.4 +-+      +       +        +        +       +        +       +      +-+
      |                                                  exp(-x*x) ******* |
      |                                                                    |
  1.2 +-+                                                                +-+
      |                                                                    |
    1 +-+                              ****                              +-+
      |                            ****    ****                            |
      |                          ***          ***                          |
  0.8 +-+                       *                *                       +-+
      |                       **                  **                       |
  0.6 +-+                   **                      **                   +-+
      |                    **                        **                    |
      |                  **                            **                  |
  0.4 +-+              **                                **              +-+
      |              ***                                  ***              |
  0.2 +-+          ***                                      ***          +-+
      |         ***                                            ***         |
      +   ******       +        +        +       +        +       ******   +
    0 ****-----+-------+--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+-----****
     -2      -1.5     -1      -0.5       0      0.5       1      1.5       2

#+end_example

Are there any options or hacks for including gnuplot dumb ASCII graphs?

Thanks to @wvxvw, it turned out to be:

  • Note: Emacs 24.5.1, org-mode 8.3.2, gnuplot Version 5.0 patchlevel 1, Mac OS X 10.10.5.
  • :session none is required in gnuplot code block for printing ASCII graph in #+RESULTS: .
    • I wish if gnuplot has an option such as noheadfeed for deleting a top ^L / or, perhaps org-babel might manage in the future.

  • HTML export

    • :results output verbatim in gnuplot code block enables printing ASCII graph at #+RESULTS: within org-mode.
    • org-html-export-as-html works. This seems to be a simple solution if you don't need LaTeX.
    • But ^L appears in the beginning of #+RESULTS: which later makes error at LaTeX.

  • LaTeX export

    • Due to ^L, "Forbidden control sequence" in LaTeX, org-latex-export-to-pdf fails.
    • For LaTeX export, do not C-c C-c at gnuplot code block. #+RESULTS: at gnuplot should be left blank.
    • :exports none is also required in gnuplot code block for avoiding LaTeX error.

  • Org-mode, HTML, LaTeX

    • @wvxvw's solution removing ^L (\014) succeeds in org-mode #+RESULTS, HTML/LaTeX exports.
    • Use #+NAME: , :var , #+CALL: for output a clean ASCII graph #+RESULTS: (without ^L)
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2
  • 1
    Instead of outputting to a file you could add another source block with, say, Emacs Lisp code where you'd assign the output of the GNUPlot to a variable, i.e. :var=graph() (assuming you previously named the GNUPlot block with #+name: graph) and then remove the extra line in the output.
    – wvxvw
    Nov 22, 2015 at 8:29
  • Thank you! I appreciate your advice! Unfortunately, perhaps due to "^L" control code, #+RESULTS: yields nothing on the org-mode, therefore variable labelled with #+NAME: graph seems to be nil...
    – RUserPassingBy
    Nov 22, 2015 at 11:56

2 Answers 2

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4

Below is the example code for what I meant. Also note that you need :session none since otherwise the output isn't generated. This looks like a bug to me in org-babel-execute:gnuplot, so, if you feel like it, you could write to Org mailing list about it. ;)

#+NAME: pp_ascii_gnuplot
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var plot=""
  (mapconcat 'identity (cl-subseq (split-string plot "\n") 2 -2) "\n")
#+END_SRC

#+NAME: graph
#+BEGIN_SRC gnuplot :results output :session none
set term dumb
set yrange [0:1.5]
plot [-2:2] exp(-x*x)
#+END_SRC

#+CALL: pp_ascii_gnuplot(plot=graph())

#+RESULTS:
#+begin_example
      +--------+-------+--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
  1.4 ++       +       +        +        +       +        exp(-x*x) ******++
      |                                                                    |
      |                                                                    |
  1.2 ++                                                                  ++
      |                                                                    |
    1 ++                               ****                               ++
      |                            ****    ****                            |
      |                          ***          ***                          |
  0.8 ++                        *                *                        ++
      |                       **                  **                       |
  0.6 ++                    **                      **                    ++
      |                    **                        **                    |
      |                  **                            **                  |
  0.4 ++               **                                **               ++
      |              ***                                  ***              |
  0.2 ++           ***                                      ***           ++
      |         ***                                            ***         |
      +   ******       +        +        +       +        +       ******   +
    0 ****-----+-------+--------+--------+-------+--------+-------+-----****
     -2      -1.5     -1      -0.5       0      0.5       1      1.5       2
#+end_example
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3
  • I really thank you for your kind and detailed advice. A Combination of gnuplot :session none, split-string in Emacs Lisp, #+CALL: in org-mode knocked me down ! But I can't replicate the results yet )-: , on Emacs 24.5.1, org-mode 8.3.2, Mac OS X 10.10.5. evaluating #+CALL: still yields blank. I'll struggle to catch up your advice.
    – RUserPassingBy
    Nov 23, 2015 at 2:36
  • 1
    @RUserPassingBy I have a newer version of Emacs and am doing this on Linux. One way I'd try to test it is by just outputting a string with ^L in it from one source block and seeing if it gets into another source block unaffected. If you need to insert ^L in a string, something like "foo\014bar" should work.
    – wvxvw
    Nov 23, 2015 at 15:06
  • 1
    Oh, I thank @wvxvw ! It works ! In my environment, I need :results output verbatim in gnuplot block, :results output value in Emacs Lisp and #+CALL: blocks. Now, I'm ready to dive into deep ASCII world ! Thanks a lot !
    – RUserPassingBy
    Nov 24, 2015 at 6:08
0

Thanks to @wvxvw's many advice, I attempted a short try. I'll never figure it out without @wvxvw's advice on :session none and code \014.

#+NAME: graph
#+BEGIN_SRC gnuplot :results output verbatim :session none :exports none
set term dumb
set yrange [0:1.5]
plot [-2:2] exp(-x*x)
#+END_SRC

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :results output value :exports both :var tmp=graph :exports both
(cadr (split-string tmp "\014"))
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
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