points

The points style displays a small symbol at each point. The command set pointsize may be used to change the default size of all points. The point type defaults to that of the linetype. See linetypes. If no using spec is found in the plot command, input data columns are interpreted implicitly in the order

     x y pointsize pointtype color

Any columns beyond the first two (x and y) are optional; they correspond to additional plot properties pointsize variable, pointtype variable, etc.

The first 8 point types are shared by all terminals. Individual terminals may provide a much larger number of distinct point types. Use the test command to show what is provided by the current terminal settings.

Alternatively any single printable character may be given instead of a numerical point type, as in the example below. You may use any unicode character as the pointtype (assumes utf8 support). See escape sequences. Longer strings may be plotted using plot style labels rather than points.

     plot f(x) with points pt "#"
     plot d(x) with points pt "\U+2299"

When using the keywords pointtype, pointsize, or linecolor in a plot command, the additional keyword variable may be given instead of a number. In this case the corresponding properties of each point are assigned by additional columns of input data. Variable pointsize is always taken from the first additional column provided in a using spec. Variable color is always taken from the last additional column. See colorspec. If all three properties are specified for each point, the order of input data columns is thus

     plot DATA using x:y:pointsize:pointtype:color \
          with points lc variable pt variable ps variable

Note: for information on user-defined program variables, see variables.