gnuplot-info

[Gnuplot-info] terminal dumb plot inserts a form feed char

[Robbie M. <ro...@ac...>]

Hello all

I noticed that the "dumb" terminal, by default, inserts
a "^L" (form feed char, decimal 012) before plotting.

I normally capture the output, which is then duly
peppered with these little form feeds.  I wonder if a
better default would be to omit the form feed unless
otherwise requested.

Please note that I do not issue a 'clear' command,
which Janert (2010 p218) ["Gnuplot in Action"] suggests
should "forces a form-feed or page break" in this case.

Just a thought for the doubtless overworked
maintainers.  And I could of course deal with this
on the client side.

best wishes, Robbie
---
Robbie Morrison
PhD student -- policy-oriented energy system simulation
Technical University of Berlin (TU-Berlin), Germany
University email (redirected) : mor...@ie...
Webmail (preferred)           : ro...@ac...
[from Webmail client]

Re: [Gnuplot-info] terminal dumb plot inserts a form feed char

[Hans-Bernhard B. <HBB...@t-...>]

On 22.09.2011 09:49, Robbie Morrison wrote:

> I noticed that the "dumb" terminal, by default, inserts
> a "^L" (form feed char, decimal 012) before plotting.

And if you're on an actual interactive terminal, which is what this 
terminal is primarily intended for, that's quite a nice thing, really, 
because it positions the plot on a new page, where it'll stay at the top 
without moving, while you enter the next commands.

> I normally capture the output, which is then duly
> peppered with these little form feeds.  I wonder if a
> better default would be to omit the form feed unless
> otherwise requested.

Well, adding clever options like that to a terminal driver calling 
itself "dumb" would, kinda-sorta, defeat the purpose.

Re: [Gnuplot-info] terminal dumb plot inserts a form feed char

[Robbie M. <ro...@ac...>]

Hello Hans-Bernhard

------------------------------------------------------------
To:           Robbie Morrison <ro...@ac...>
Subject:      Re: [Gnuplot-info] terminal dumb plot inserts a form feed char
Message-ID:  <4E7...@t-...>
From:         =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Hans-Bernhard_Br=F6ker?= <HBB...@t-...>
Date:         Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:43:16 +0200
------------------------------------------------------------

> On 22.09.2011 09:49, Robbie Morrison wrote:
>
>> I noticed that the "dumb" terminal, by default, inserts
>> a "^L" (form feed char, decimal 012) before plotting.
>
> And if you're on an actual interactive terminal, which
> is what this terminal is primarily intended for, that's
> quite a nice thing, really, because it positions the
> plot on a new page, where it'll stay at the top without
> moving, while you enter the next commands.
>
>> I normally capture the output, which is then duly
>> peppered with these little form feeds.  I wonder if a
>> better default would be to omit the form feed unless
>> otherwise requested.
>
> Well, adding clever options like that to a terminal
> driver calling itself "dumb" would, kinda-sorta, defeat
> the purpose.

I appreciate your comments.  I realize ^L clears the
screen.  My app normally runs from within emacs and I
sometimes capture hundreds of thousands of lines of
debugging output in a single emacs buffer.  This can be
navigated thru using a whole collection of custom elisp
functions.  Emacs is remarkable tolerant about these
large files.  Any how, that's my use case.

The ^L should work better for interactive sessions,
as you suggest.

thanks for your reply
Robbie
---
Robbie Morrison
PhD student -- policy-oriented energy system simulation
Technical University of Berlin (TU-Berlin), Germany
University email (redirected) : mor...@ie...
Webmail (preferred)           : ro...@ac...
[from Webmail client]