Really Simple Gnuplot Pipeline for C++

Really Simple C++ Single Header-Only Library for Gnuplot Pipelines. It is based on the build2 build system.

master

Current

Author

Markus Pawellek "lyrahgames" (lyrahgames@mailbox.org)

Requirements

C++17
Linux
build2 (or some manual work for other build systems)
gnuplot

Tested Platforms

Operating System: Linux
Compiler: GCC | Clang
Build System: build2

Usage with build2

Add this repository to the repositories.manifest file of your build2 package.

:
role: prerequisite
location: https://github.com/lyrahgames/gnuplot-pipe.git

Add the following entry to the manifest file with a possible version dependency.

depends: lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe

Add these entries to your buildfile.

import libs = lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe%lib{lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe}
exe{your-executable}: {hxx cxx}{**} $libs

Installation

The standard installation process will only install the header-only library with some additional description, library, and package files.

bpkg -d build2-packages cc \
  config.install.root=/usr/local \
  config.install.sudo=sudo

Get the latest package release and build it.

bpkg build https://github.com/lyrahgames/gnuplot-pipe.git

Install the built package.

bpkg install lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe

For uninstalling, do the following.

bpkg uninstall lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe

If your package uses an explicit depends: lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe make sure to initialize this dependency as a system dependency when creating a new configuration.

bdep init -C @build cc config.cxx=g++ "config.cxx.coptions=-O3" -- "?sys:lyrahgames-gnuplot-pipe/*"

Alternative Usage

To use other build systems or manual compilation, you only have to add the lyrahgames/gnuplot_pipe.hpp file to your project and include it in the compilation process.

Example

All given examples are provided in the tests folder and can be compiled and executed by cloning the repository and running build2 in the root folder.

Basic

#include <lyrahgames/gnuplot_pipe.hpp>

int main() {
  lyrahgames::gnuplot_pipe plot{};
  plot << "plot sin(x)\n"
       << "replot 0.5*cos(x)\n";
}

Advanced Usage with File IO

#include <cmath>
#include <fstream>
//
#include <lyrahgames/gnuplot_pipe.hpp>

using namespace std;
using namespace lyrahgames;

int main() {
  std::fstream file{"tmp.dat", std::ios::out};
  const int n = 100;
  for (size_t i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
    const float phi = 2.0 * M_PI * i / (n - 1);
    const float x = cos(phi);
    const float y = sin(2 * phi);
    file << i << '\t' << phi << '\t' << x << '\t' << y << '\n';
  }
  file << flush;

  gnuplot_pipe plot{};
  plot << "plot 'tmp.dat' u 3:4 w l\n";
}

Advanced Usage with Animations

#include <chrono>
#include <cmath>
#include <thread>
//
#include <lyrahgames/gnuplot_pipe.hpp>

using namespace std;
using namespace chrono_literals;
using namespace lyrahgames;

int main() {
  float a = 1;
  gnuplot_pipe plot{};

  for (size_t i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
    plot << "plot sin(" << std::sin(a) << "*x)\n";
    a += 0.1;
    this_thread::sleep_for(50ms);
  }
}

API

Gnuplot Pipeline Constructor

lyrahgames::gnuplot_pipe::gnuplot_pipe();

Opens a Linux pipe to a new gnuplot process.

Gnuplot Pipeline Destructor

virtual lyrahgames::gnuplot_pipe::~gnuplot_pipe();

Automatically closes and destroys the opened Linux pipe by using RAII principle.

Gnuplot Pipeline Stream Operator

namespace lyrahgames {
template <typename T>
gnuplot_pipe& operator<<(gnuplot_pipe& plot, const T& t);
} // namespace lyrahgames

Given variable reference t of type T will be transformed into a string by using the standard stream operator operator<< and then send to the gnuplot process for further processing.