Quickstart for gnuplot A complete guide to gnuplot is at http://www.gnuplot.info/help.html COMMAND ACTION gnuplot starts up the gnuplot "shell" all commands below are relevant in that shell set data style linespoints data points are connected by line segments set title "This is the graph's title" set xlabel "This is the label for the x axis" set ylabel "This is the label for the y axis" set logscale xy 2 converts x and y scales to log (base 2) set nologscale converts back set key x,y places the key (the legend) at coords x,y set xrange [min:max] specifies range of x axis set yrange [min:max] specifies range of y axis set autoscale gnuplot determines axes ranges plot "file.1", "file.2" plots the x,y data points from file.1 and file.2 splot "file.3" with pm3d plots x,y,z data points with hidden surfaces replot use after changing a "set"ing to see the latest version of the graph To create a postscript version of your graph suitable for printing: set term postscript set output "mygraph.ps" plot "file.1", "file.2" (or replot) set term x11 To get encapsulated postscript for LaTeX: set term postscript eps color set output 'mygraph.eps' plot 'file.1', 'file.2' set term x11 In your LaTeX document, include \usepackage{epsfig} after the \documentclass command. Then place \begin{figure}[htbp] \centering \centerline{\hbox{\psfig{figure=mygraph.eps}}} \caption{A simple graph.} \label{fig1} \end{figure} in your LaTeX document at the point you want the figure to appear (and cross your fingers).