From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Paul Stansell Subject: Re: using gnuplot's "splot" and "every" commands on org-mode table data Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 13:05:00 +0100 Message-ID: References: <87k3ncxeqt.fsf@gmail.com> <87ioxr15c0.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:56963) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VORMZ-0006F7-FS for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Sep 2013 08:05:12 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VORMU-0007xz-FO for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Sep 2013 08:05:07 -0400 Received: from mail-ie0-x22f.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4001:c03::22f]:42203) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VORMU-0007vk-BD for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Sep 2013 08:05:02 -0400 Received: by mail-ie0-f175.google.com with SMTP id e14so8707854iej.20 for ; Tue, 24 Sep 2013 05:05:01 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <87ioxr15c0.fsf@gmail.com> List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Eric Schulte Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Hi Eric, > Currently the :missing header argument for gnuplot code blocks does two > things. It adds the "set datafile missing..." line to the code block > body *and* it binds `*org-babel-gnuplot-missing*' to the value of the > :missing header argument when the datafile is written, so empty table > cells are replaced with the value of the :missing header argument. Thanks for the explanation. > The reason you're not getting a blank line is because it is replaced > with three "missing" values, in this case "? ? ?". > > Do you think this behavior should be changed or split between two header > arguments? I think the :missing header should not replace empty fields in an org table by the missing character as blank lines have a special meaning in gnuplot. To fully use the versatility of gnuplot one needs blank lines and missing values. The "set datafile missing" command sets a specific character string to be treated as a missing value. The character string can even be a number, eg. set datafile missing "-1". It says under gnuplot's "help missing" that: "There is no default character for `missing`, but in many cases any non-parsible string of characters found where a numerical value is expected will be treated as missing data." My view is that for the purposes of exporting org tables for plotting with gnuplot all blank entries in the org table (fields and whole lines) should be exported as blanks, and all characters (letters or numerical digits etc.) should be exported exactly as they appear in the table (without any additional surrounding quotes being added). Maybe I'm missing the point of the :missing header, but I find it easier and clearer to include the datafile missing command in the gnuplot code block. I don't really see a need for the :missing header. Maybe the need stems from wanting to be able to use different plotting packages to plot the same org table data, but it's not clear to me. Kind regards, Paul