Getting help
Which pchar numbers generate which plotting characters?
In general, there are two ways to get an answer to a question like this. One is to
type the physica command
help
In response,
a list of available topics shows up, and you may choose one and type it in at the prompt.
A list of subtopics may then appear if there are further subdivisions in your chosen
topic. Type them in as needed. To go up a level in the help structure, type a
single carriage return key (CR) at the Topic? prompt. Depending on how deep you
are, one or several CRs will take you back to the PHYSICA:
prompt, while a question mark
Topic? ?
will repeat the list of current subtopics. You may also use
help graph
to get help on a specific command (graph in this example;
also try help introduction). In this case, the same help information
is shown, but you are returned back to the PHYSICA: prompt right away.
Alternatively, you may
open a hardcopy manual (several copies should be available from your instructor);
or use the
on-line help facility,
the electronic version of the hardcopy manuals.
The only ``exceptions'' to this rule are the five things covered by the
display command: fonts, special characters, hatch patterns,
line types, and,
yes, the plotting characters. For example, to get a table of possible
pchar symbols and their codes on your screen you would use
display pchar rather than help pchar; the latter simply gives
you a brief description of the syntax of the pchar command but
not the table of codes.
There are two manuals for physica: one is the User's
Guide which takes the same tutorial approach that we have been using
here, in much more detail, of course; it guides you by showing many
examples. Once you have read the introductory chapters, the best way to
use it is to flip through its pages until you find an example
that looks like something that you have in mind, and use the commands
of that example as an inspiration for generating your own graphs. The
other is the Reference Manual which is the detailed description
of all commands and their options.
There is one more special manual, PLOTDATA to PHYSICA Conversion Manual,
for those users who have macro files written for plotdata,
the predecessor program to physica, and wish to convert them
to the new physica format.
Returning back to our original question: as an alternative to
display pchar you can look up the table of pchar symbols in the
Reference Manual on page 83.
Up: A simple example
Next: Hardcopy
Previous: Programming with physica macros
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