15.1.6 Printing Plots

The print command allows you to save plots in a variety of formats. For example,

print -deps foo.eps

writes the current figure to an encapsulated PostScript file called ‘foo.eps’.

Function File: print ()

Function File: print (options)

Function File: print (filename, options)

Function File: print (h, filename, options)

Print a graph, or save it to a file

filename defines the file name of the output file. If no filename is specified, the output is sent to the printer.

h specifies the figure handle. If no handle is specified the handle for the current figure is used.

options:

-Pprinter

Set the printer name to which the graph 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

Monochrome or color lines.

-solid

-dashed

Solid or dashed lines.

-portrait

-landscape

Specify the orientation of the plot for printed output.

-ddevice

Output device, where device is one of:

ps

ps2

psc

psc2

Postscript (level 1 and 2, mono and color)

eps

eps2

epsc

epsc2

Encapsulated postscript (level 1 and 2, mono and color)

tex

epslatex

epslatexstandalone

pstex

pslatex

Generate a LaTeX (or TeX) file for labels, and eps/ps for graphics. The file produced by epslatexstandalone can be processed directly by LaTeX. The other formats are intended to be included in a LaTeX (or TeX) document. The tex device is the same as the epslatex device.

ill

aifm

Adobe Illustrator

cdr

corel

CorelDraw

dxf

AutoCAD

emf

meta

Microsoft Enhanced Metafile

fig

XFig. If this format is selected 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).

hpgl

HP plotter language

mf

Metafont

png

Portable network graphics

jpg

jpeg

JPEG image

gif

GIF image

pbm

PBMplus

svg

Scalable vector graphics

pdf

Portable document format

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.

-dgs_device

Additional devices are supported by Ghostscript. Some examples are;

ljet2p

HP LaserJet IIP

ljet3

HP LaserJet III

deskjet

HP DeskJet and DeskJet Plus

cdj550

HP DeskJet 550C

paintjet

HP PointJet

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 the ghostscript is sent to a printer the size is determined by the figure's "papersize" property. When the ghostscript output is sent to a file the size is determined by the figure's "paperposition" property.

-rNUM

Resolution of bitmaps in pixels per inch. For both metafiles and SVG the default is the screen resolution, for other it is 150 dpi. To specify screen resolution, use "-r0".

-tight

Forces a tight bounding box for eps-files. Since the ghostscript devices are conversion of an eps-file, this option works the those devices as well.

-Sxsize,ysize

Plot size in pixels for EMF, GIF, JPEG, PBM, PNG and SVG. If using the command form of the print function, you must quote the xsize,ysize option. For example, by writing "-S640,480". The size defaults to that specified by the figure's paperposition property.

-Ffontname

-Ffontname:size

-F:size

fontname set the postscript font (for use with postscript, aifm, corel and fig). By default, 'Helvetica' is set for PS/Aifm, and 'SwitzerlandLight' for Corel. It can also be 'Times-Roman'. size is given in points. fontname is ignored for the fig device.

The filename and options can be given in any order.

Function File: orient (orientation)

Set the default print orientation. Valid values for orientation include "landscape" and "portrait". If called with no arguments, return the default print orientation.