# Example: Line Plot Example

Published 2010-05-23 | Author: Claudio Favi

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\documentclass{minimal}
% Line plot example using external data fiels.
%
% Author: Claudio Favi
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{plotmarks}
% The data files, written on the first run.
\begin{filecontents}{div_soft.data}
#MOPS 	Power [mW]
1.33E-02	10.403432
1.33E-01	12.53108
2.66E-01	14.90265
3.99E-01	17.22483
5.31E-01	19.58292
6.64E-01	21.89876
7.97E-01	24.44624
9.30E-01	26.6708
\end{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{div_ciu.data}
# MOPS 	Power [mW]
4.35E-02	9.562436
4.35E-01	10.845494
8.69E-01	12.24356
1.30E+00	13.66974
1.74E+00	15.13008
2.17E+00	16.57845
2.61E+00	17.97894
3.04E+00	19.41534
\end{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{div_ciu_oscar.data}
#MOPS 	Power [mW]
8.57E-01	11.255013
9.99E-01	11.4804
1.14E+00	11.718
1.29E+00	11.9916
1.64E+00	12.65854
2.00E+00	13.308
2.64E+00	14.484
3.85E+00	16.8
\end{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{div_ciu_oscar_extrapolated.data}
# MOPS 	Power [mW]
4.28E+00	17.56312023
5.71E+00	20.21127914
7.14E+00	22.85943805
8.57E+00	25.50759696
9.99E+00	28.15575587
\end{filecontents}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[y=.2cm, x=.7cm,font=\sffamily]
%axis
\draw (0,0) -- coordinate (x axis mid) (10,0);
\draw (0,0) -- coordinate (y axis mid) (0,30);
%ticks
\foreach \x in {0,...,10}
\draw (\x,1pt) -- (\x,-3pt)
node[anchor=north] {\x};
\foreach \y in {0,5,...,30}
\draw (1pt,\y) -- (-3pt,\y)
node[anchor=east] {\y};
%labels
\node[below=0.8cm] at (x axis mid) {MOPS};
\node[rotate=90, above=0.8cm] at (y axis mid) {Power [mW]};

%plots
\draw plot[mark=*, mark options={fill=white}]
file {div_soft.data};
\draw plot[mark=triangle*, mark options={fill=white} ]
file {div_ciu.data};
\draw plot[mark=square*, mark options={fill=white}]
file {div_ciu_oscar.data};
\draw plot[mark=square*]
file {div_ciu_oscar_extrapolated.data};

%legend
\begin{scope}[shift={(4,4)}]
\draw (0,0) --
plot[mark=*, mark options={fill=white}] (0.25,0) -- (0.5,0)
node[right]{soft};
\draw[yshift=\baselineskip] (0,0) --
plot[mark=triangle*, mark options={fill=white}] (0.25,0) -- (0.5,0)
node[right]{ciu};
\draw[yshift=2\baselineskip] (0,0) --
plot[mark=square*, mark options={fill=white}] (0.25,0) -- (0.5,0)
node[right]{ciu + oscar};
\draw[yshift=3\baselineskip] (0,0) --
plot[mark=square*, mark options={fill=black}] (0.25,0) -- (0.5,0)
node[right]{ciu + oscar extrapolated};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


• #1 Rafa Gallego, May 23, 2010 at 9:50 p.m.

For those who do not know, the same results (and a lot more) are achieved with the fantastic package pgfplots

• #2 Michele, May 24, 2010 at 8:20 a.m.

Hi, it is true...with PGF plots you can do it much better but i think that the purpose of this post is to show the new data visualization ability of PGF/TikZ 2.00 CVS.

• #3 hakims, September 18, 2010 at 1:34 p.m.

I have texlive 2009 with PGF incorporated. I can't get the graph although there is no complication error?

• #4 Claudio Favi, October 30, 2010 at 9:26 p.m.

PGF plots is indeed much better. Didn't know about it back then. I'm now using it all the time...

• #5 Javier, March 16, 2012 at 11:40 a.m.

How could we obtain two-dimensional stem plots? something like: http://www.mathworks.ch/help/techdoc/ref/stem.html

• #6 Sophia, November 30, 2012 at 8:20 p.m.

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• #7 rkmylo, January 6, 2013 at 7:14 p.m.

A weird observation I made, is that the all marks (except for squares) in the legend are not smoothly drawn as it is the case for the marks inside the actual plot. Nevertheless, it would make it even more obvious to use ultra thick lines to draw the legend. I am struggling to come up with a solution for the last two days. So, the final question is:

Why this code:

\tikz{\draw (0,0) -- plot[mark=o] (0.25,0) -- (0.5,0);}

does not output smooth drawings?