GNUPlot Manual

36 SET-SHOW gnuplot 4.0 73
Some or all of the key may be outside of the graph boundary, although this may interfere with other
labels and may cause an error on some devices. If you use the keywords outside or below, gnuplot
makes space for the keys and the graph becomes smaller. Putting keys outside to the right, they occupy
as few columns as possible, and putting them below, as many columns as possible (depending of the
length of the labels), thus stealing as little space from the graph as possible.
When using the TeX or PostScript drivers, or similar drivers where formatting information is embedded
in the string, gnuplot is unable to calculate correctly the width of the string for key positioning. If
the key is to be positioned at the left, it may be convenient to use the combination set key left Left
reverse. The box and gap in the grid will be the width of the literal string.
If splot is being used to draw contours, the contour labels will be listed in the key. If the alignment of
these labels is poor or a different number of decimal places is desired, the label format can be specified.
See set clabel (p. 58) for details.
Examples:
This places the key at the default location:
set key default
This disables the key:
unset key
This places a key at coordinates 2,3.5,2 in the default (first) coordinate system:
set key 2,3.5,2
This places the key below the graph:
set key below
This places the key in the bottom left corner, left-justifies the text, gives it a title, and draws a box
around it in linetype 3:
set key left bottom Left title ’Legend’ box 3
36.29 Label
Arbitrary labels can be placed on the plot using the set label command.
Syntax:
set label {}
{ {""{,}} {, ...}} }
{at }
{left | center | right}
{norotate | rotate {by }}
{font "{,}"}
{front | back}
{textcolor }
{point {offset x, y} | nopoint}
unset label {}
show label
The is specified by either x,y or x,y,z, and may be preceded by first, second, graph, or
screen to select the coordinate system. See coordinates (p. 18) for details.
The tag is an integer that is used to identify the label. If no is given, the lowest unused tag
value is assigned automatically. The tag can be used to delete or modify a specific label. To change
any attribute of an existing label, use the set label command with the appropriate tag, and specify the
parts of the label to be changed.
The can optionally contain numbers, generated by replacement of printf()-like format
specifiers contained in . The number to be used is given by the following the