tics

The set tics command controls the tic marks and labels on all axes at once.

The tics may be turned off with the unset tics command, and may be turned on (the default state) with set tics. Fine control of tics on individual axes is possible using the alternative commands set xtics, set ztics, etc.

Syntax:

      set tics {axis | border} {{no}mirror}
               {in | out} {front | back}
               {{no}rotate {by <ang>}} {offset <offset> | nooffset}
               {left | right | center | autojustify}
               {format "formatstring"} {font "name{,<size>}"} {{no}enhanced}
               { textcolor <colorspec> }
      set tics scale {default | <major> {,<minor>}}
      unset tics
      show tics

The options can be applied to a single axis (x, y, z, x2, y2, cb), e.g.

      set xtics rotate by -90
      unset cbtics

All tic marks are drawn using the same line properties as the plot border (see set border).

Set tics back or front applies to all axes at once, but only for 2D plots (not splot). It controls whether the tics are placed behind or in front of the plot elements, in the case that there is overlap.

axis or border tells gnuplot to put the tics (both the tics themselves and the accompanying labels) along the axis or the border, respectively. If the axis is very close to the border, the axis option will move the tic labels to outside the border in case the border is printed (see set border). The relevant margin settings will usually be sized badly by the automatic layout algorithm in this case.

mirror tells gnuplot to put unlabeled tics at the same positions on the opposite border. nomirror does what you think it does.

in and out change the tic marks to be drawn inwards or outwards.

set tics scale controls the size of the tic marks. The first value <major> controls the auto-generated or user-specified major tics (level 0). The second value controls the auto-generated or user-specified minor tics (level 1). <major> defaults to 1.0, <minor> defaults to <major>/2. Additional values control the size of user-specified tics with level 2, 3, ... Default tic sizes are restored by set tics scale default.

rotate asks gnuplot to rotate the text through 90 degrees, which will be done if the terminal driver in use supports text rotation. norotate cancels this. rotate by <ang> asks for rotation by <ang> degrees, supported by some terminal types.

The defaults are border mirror norotate for tics on the x and y axes, and border nomirror norotate for tics on the x2 and y2 axes. For the z axis, the default is nomirror.

The <offset> is specified by either x,y or x,y,z, and may be preceded by first, second, graph, screen, or character to select the coordinate system. <offset> is the offset of the tics texts from their default positions, while the default coordinate system is character. See coordinates for details. nooffset switches off the offset.

By default, tic labels are justified automatically depending on the axis and rotation angle to produce aesthetically pleasing results. If this is not desired, justification can be overridden with an explicit left, right or center keyword. autojustify restores the default behavior.

set tics with no options restores mirrored, inward-facing tic marks for the primary axes. All other settings are retained.

See also set xtics for more control of major (labeled) tic marks and set mxtics for control of minor tic marks. These commands provide control of each axis independently.