[Gnuplot-info] History and interactive/batch mode

[Elias A. <eli...@if...>]

Hi,

I use gnuplot a lot, and in some quite different contexts, for which 
different settings are useful.  So I tried putting shorthands like this 
in my .bashrc:

alias gnuplot-a="gnuplot -e 'some  commands;' -"
alias gnuplot-b="gnuplot -e 'other commands;' -"

(or, equivalently, "gnuplot init_file -"); the problem is that this puts 
gnuplot into batch mode and I cannot access the history, which kind of 
defeats the whole idea of saving keystrokes.

Here are two threads that I found that deal with this problem:

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot/UGwZzqL84I8/discussion

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/info-gnuplot-beta/message/2929

In the first, someone had the same problem and suggested putting gnuplot 
in interactive mode when reading from '-' but got the reply: "The '-' 
command-line argument is meant for use with programs
controlling gnuplot from the outside (after having loaded some scripts
first), not for actual interactive usage by people."

I understand that, but I really feel there should be a way to do what I 
am trying, be it with a command (e.g. 'load history' as suggested in the 
second thread above) or a switch (e.g. '--interactive').

Besides, gnuplot already treats an explicit '-' differently from 
no-arguments, and in the latter case seems to detect whether it is on a 
terminal:

$ gnuplot			# real interactive
gnuplot> print 2*pi
6.28318530717959
gnuplot>
$ echo print 2*pi | gnuplot	# real batch
6.28318530717959
$ echo print 2*pi | gnuplot -	# pseudo-interactive
gnuplot> 6.28318530717959
gnuplot>

So for '-', why not also check for a terminal and load the history in 
that case?  At the same time, one could eliminate the prompts when not 
on a terminal.

Or is there a solution I overlooked?  After all, the threads are not 
exactly new.  (I realize that I could fake it by writing a .gnuplot file 
on-the-fly, but that seems needlessly complicated and error-prone.)

Sorry for the long post.

	Elias

PS: Also, sorry if this is posted to the list more than once -- I had a 
problem where it was rejected at first, now I am no longer 100% sure if 
it got through before.