Macro Language

Introduction

There are ~300 commands, ~55 math functions and ~190 constants available in the Plot macro language. Most of the commands need one or more argument. Simply enter the command followed by the arguments separated by spaces.

Special Characters:

:Separator for multiple commands in one line
;Separator for arguments in functions (see Expressions)
"Quotes for arguments containing whitespaces
'Quotes for arguments containing whitespaces
#Escape character for comments. Starting from this character the rest of a line will be treated as comment

For example a command may look like this:

atext xb "Axis Text"
clr : list : exit

This command sets the axis text label for the first (bottom) X axis.

Note: some macro commands does not fully work with the Plot2 version from the AppStore. Use the download version instead.
http://apps.micw.org/apps/plot2/downloads.php

There is also a syntax mode for Coda2 available: http://apps.micw.org/apps/plot2/downloads/Plot2-Daviz.mode.zip

Variables

During macro execution several variables are available. String variable starts with a $ sign.

cbnumber of the current working buffer in the document
$datethe current date
$documentthe filename of the current document
dx1the distance between the last two measures with the mouse (1. X axis)
dx2the distance between the last two measures with the mouse (2. X axis)
dy1the distance between the last two measures with the mouse (1. Y axis)
dy2the distance between the last two measures with the mouse (2. Y axis)
$filethe filename from the browse command
f[0-23][a-e]the values from the curve fit parameter table, e.g: f2b
fitsuccess1 if the last curve fit succeeded, 0 if not
fititerationsthe number of iterations in the last curve fit
fitrmsdRMSD from the last curve fit
fitchi2Chi2 from the last fit curve
fitsigmaSigma from the last curve fit
framebottomthe position of bottom frame line
frameleftthe position of left frame line
framerightthe position of right frame line
frametopthe position of top frame line
framewidththe width of the frame
frameheightthe hight of the frame
framelinewidththe width of the frame border lines
$homethe users home directory
inputthe result of the last input command
$inputthe result of the last input command as string
integralthe result from the last calcint command
lthe run variable for loops
lxthe X value during a data loop
lythe Y value during a data loop
lxethe X error value during a data loop
lyethe X error value during a data loop
lastbufferthe number of the last buffer generated by one of the calculation commands
marginbottom,mbthe bottom margin
marginleft,mlthe left margin
marginright,mrthe right margin
margintop,mtthe top margin
mtthe number of seconds from the absolute reference date (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 2001)
nbnumber of data buffer in the document
optionthe result of the askoption command
ref1the 1. reference value
ref2the 2. reference value
linbga, linbgbthe reference values for linear background subtraction
rega, regb, regrthe result of the last regression
textheight,ththe height of the last added text
textwidth,twthe width of the last added text
$timethe current time with seconds
$shorttimethe current time without seconds
timercountcontains the number of timed macro executions
$userthe user name
utthe number of seconds from the reference date (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970), aka unix timestamp
viewheight,hthe height of the current view
viewwidth,wthe width of the current view
windowheight,whthe window height
windowwidth,wwthe window width
xmin1min value of the 1. (bottom) X axis
xmin2min value of the 2. (top) X axis
xmax1max value of the 1. (bottom) X axis
xmax2max value of the 2. (top) X axis
xpos1the last result of the measure with the mouse (1. X axis)
xpos2the last result of the measure with the mouse (2. X axis)
ymax1max value of the 1. (left) Y axis
ymax2max value of the 2. (right) Y axis
ymin1min value of the 1. (left) Y axis
ymin2min value of the 2. (right) Y axis
ypos1the last result of the measure with the mouse (1. Y axis)
ypos2the last result of the measure with the mouse (2. Y axis)

Arguments

In the command descriptions on the following pages optional argument is written with surround square brackets ([argument]) and required arguments with angle brackets (<argument>).

There are also some special arguments:


BOOL

this is a switch parameter which can only have two values.Possible values:

0, false, no, offSwitch Off
1, true, yes, onSwitch On

BUFFER

a list of one or more data buffers. Possible values are:

allall buffers in the document
selectedselected buffers in the document
unselectedunselected buffers in the document
visiblevisible buffers in the document
hiddenhidden buffers in the document
noneno buffer
b1,b2,b3,...,bna list of buffers where the arguments may be math expressions.
bs..bebuffers from bs to be

AXIS

Defines the axis to which the command apply. Possible values are:

allall four axis
xboth X axis
yboth Y axis
1, x1, xb, bottom1. X axis (bottom)
2, y1, yl, left1. Y axis (left)
3, x2, xt, top2. X axis (top)
4, y2, yr, right2. Y axis (right)

AXISGROUP

The coordinates system:

0, bothboth axis
1, firstfirst axis (left and bottom)
2, secondsecond axis (right and top)

NUMBERFORMAT

The axis number format:

0, scinumbers with scientific notation
1, engnumbers with engineering notation
2, sinumbers with SI notation

COOR

The coordinates system:

0, screenscreen coordinates
1, firstfirst axis (left and bottom)
2, secondsecond axis (right and top)

RANGE

A list of numbers (e.g. used for the loop command):

ndefines a range from 0 to n
from;to;stepdefines a range where the arguments may be math expressions.
b1,b2,b3,...,bna list of numbers where the arguments may be math expressions.
bs..benumbers from bs to be

ALIGN

A parameter wich defines the alignment of different objects, possible values:

topleft
tl
1
topcenter
tc
2
topright
tr
3
centerleft
cl
8
center
c
0
centerright
cr
4
bottomleft
bl
7
bottomcenter
bc
6
bottomright
br
5

TEXTALIGN

A parameter wich defines the alignment of text elements:

left
l
0
center
c
1
right
r
2

AUTOTEXTPOS

A parameter wich defines the alignment of different objects, possible values:

 outsidetopleft
otl
10
outsidetopcenter
otc
11
outsidetopright
otr
12
 
outsidelefttop
olt
21
topleft
tl
1
topcenter
tc
2
topright
tr
3
outsiderighttop
ort
13
outsideleftcenter
olc
20
centerleft
cl
4
center
c
5
centerright
cr
6
outsiderightcenter
orc
14
outsideleftbottom
olb
19
bottomleft
bl
7
bottomcenter
bc
8
bottomright
br
9
outsiderightbottom
orb
15
 outsidebottomleft
obl
18
outsidebottomcenter
obc
17
outsidebottomright
obr
16
 

COLOR

This can be a hexadecimal color definition in the format RGB, ARGB, RRGGBB or AARRGGBB where R is red, G is green, B is blue and A is alpha.

There are also named colors which can be used: black, white, red, green, blue, orange, yellow, magenta, cyan, aluminum, aqua, asparagus, banana, blueberry, bubblegum, cantaloupe, carnation, cayenne, clover, eggplant, fern, flora, grape, honeydew, ice, iron, lavender, lead, lemon, licorice, lime, magnesium, maraschino, maroon, mercury, midnight, mocha, moss, nickel, ocean, orchid, plum, salmon, seafoam, silver, sky, snow, spindrift, spring, steel, strawberry, tangerine, teal, tin, tungsten, turquoise

The Plot default colors can be addressed with the numbers 0-15


TIMEFORMAT

Plot stores time data as the number of seconds relative to an absolute reference time: the first instant of 1 January, 2001, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Dates before then are stored as negative numbers; dates after then are stored as positive numbers.

To convert a UNIX time to a Plot time simply subtract 978307200.0 from the UNIX time.

Time format tokens

Field Sym. No. Example Description
era G 1..3 AD Era - Replaced with the Era string for the current

date. One to three letters for the abbreviated form, four letters for the long form, five for the narrow form.

4 Anno Domini
5 A
year y 1..n 1996 Year. Normally the length specifies the padding, but for two letters it also specifies the maximum length.

Example:

Year y yy yyy yyyy yyyyy
AD 1 1 01 001 0001 00001
AD 12 12 12 012 0012 00012
AD 123 123 23 123 0123 00123
AD 1234 1234 34 1234 1234 01234
AD 12345 12345 45 12345 12345 12345

Y 1..n 1997 Year (in "Week of Year" based calendars). Normally the length specifies the padding,

but for two letters it also specifies the maximum length. This year designation is used in ISO year-week calendar as defined by ISO 8601, but can be used in non-Gregorian based calendar systems where week date processing is desired. May not always be the same value as calendar year.

u 1..n 4601 Extended year. This is a single number designating the year of this calendar system, encompassing

all supra-year fields. For example, for the Julian calendar system, year numbers are positive, with an era of BCE or CE. An extended year value for the Julian calendar system assigns positive values to CE years and negative values to BCE years, with 1 BCE being year 0.

U 1..3 甲子 Cyclic year name. Calendars such as the

Chinese lunar calendar (and related calendars) and the Hindu calendars use 60-year cycles of year names. Use one through three letters for the abbreviated name, four for the full name, or five for the narrow name (currently the data only provides abbreviated names, which will be used for all requested name widths). If the calendar does not provide cyclic year name data, or if the year value to be formatted is out of the range of years for which cyclic name data is provided, then numeric formatting is used (behaves like 'y').

4 (currently also 甲子)
5 (currently also 甲子)
quarter Q 1..2 02 Quarter - Use one or two for the numerical

quarter, three for the abbreviation, or four for the full name.

3 Q2
4 2nd quarter
q 1..2 02 Stand-Alone Quarter - Use one or two

for the numerical quarter, three for the abbreviation, or four for the full name.

3 Q2
4 2nd quarter
month M 1..2 09 Month - Use one or two for the numerical

month, three for the abbreviation, four for the full name, or five for the narrow name.

3 Sept
4 September
5 S
L 1..2 09 Stand-Alone Month - Use one or two

for the numerical month, three for the abbreviation, or four for the full name, or 5 for the narrow name.

3 Sept
4 September
5 S
l 1 (nothing) This pattern character is deprecated, and should be ignored in patterns. It was originally intended

to be used in combination with M to indicate placement of the symbol for leap month in the Chinese calendar. Placement of that marker is now specified using locale-specific <monthPatterns> data, and formatting and parsing of that marker should be handled as part of supporting the regular M and L pattern characters.

week w 1..2 27 Week of Year.
W 1 3 Week of Month
day d 1..2 1 Date - Day of the month
D 1..3 345 Day of year
F 1 2 Day of Week in Month. The example is for the 2nd Wed in July
g 1..n 2451334 Modified Julian day. This is different from the conventional Julian day number in two regards.

First, it demarcates days at local zone midnight, rather than noon GMT. Second, it is a local number; that is, it depends on the local time zone. It can be thought of as a single number that encompasses all the date-related fields.

week

day

E 1..3 Tues Day of week - Use one through three letters

for the short day, or four for the full name, five for the narrow name, or six for the short name.

4 Tuesday
5 T
6 Tu
e 1..2 2 Local day of week. Same as E except adds

a numeric value that will depend on the local starting day of the week, using one or two letters. For this example, Monday is the first day of the week.

3 Tues
4 Tuesday
5 T
6 Tu
c 1 2 Stand-Alone local day of week -

Use one letter for the local numeric value (same as 'e'), three for the short day, four for the full name, five for the narrow name, or six for the short name.

3 Tues
4 Tuesday
5 T
6 Tu
period a 1 AM AM or PM
hour h 1..2 11 Hour [1-12]. When used in skeleton data or in a skeleton passed in an API for flexible date

pattern generation, it should match the 12-hour-cycle format preferred by the locale (h or K); it should not match a 24-hour-cycle format (H or k). Use hh for zero padding.

H 1..2 13 Hour [0-23]. When used in skeleton data or in a skeleton passed in an API for flexible date

pattern generation, it should match the 24-hour-cycle format preferred by the locale (H or k); it should not match a 12-hour-cycle format (h or K). Use HH for zero padding.

K 1..2 0 Hour [0-11]. When used in a skeleton, only matches K or h, see above. Use KK for zero padding.
k 1..2 24 Hour [1-24]. When used in a skeleton, only matches k or H, see above. Use kk for zero padding.
j 1..2 n/a This is a special-purpose symbol. It must not occur in pattern or skeleton data. Instead, it

is reserved for use in skeletons passed to APIs doing flexible date pattern generation. In such a context, it requests the preferred hour format for the locale (h, H, K, or k), as determined by whether h, H, K, or k is used in the standard short time format for the locale. In the implementation of such an API, 'j' must be replaced by h, H, K, or k before beginning a match against availableFormats data. Note that use of 'j' in a skeleton passed to an API is the only way to have a skeleton request a locale's preferred time cycle type (12-hour or 24-hour).

minute m 1..2 59 Minute. Use one or two for zero padding.
second s 1..2 12 Second. Use one or two for zero padding.
S 1..n 3456 Fractional Second - truncates (like other time fields) to the count of letters.

(example shows display using pattern SSSS for seconds value 12.34567)

A 1..n 69540000 Milliseconds in day. This field behaves exactly like a composite of all time-related fields,

not including the zone fields. As such, it also reflects discontinuities of those fields on DST transition days. On a day of DST onset, it will jump forward. On a day of DST cessation, it will jump backward. This reflects the fact that is must be combined with the offset field to obtain a unique local time value.

zone z 1..3 PDT The short specific non-location format.

Where that is unavailable, falls back to the short localized GMT format ("O").

4 Pacific Daylight Time The long specific non-location format.

Where that is unavailable, falls back to the long localized GMT format ("OOOO").

Z 1..3 -0800 The ISO8601 basic format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.

The format is equivalent to RFC 822 zone format (when optional seconds field is absent). This is equivalent to the "xxxx" specifier.

4 GMT-8:00 The long localized GMT format.

This is equivalent to the "OOOO" specifier.

5 -08:00

-07:52:58

The ISO8601 extended format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. This is equivalent to the "XXXXX" specifier.

O 1 GMT-8 The short localized GMT format.
4 GMT-08:00 The long localized GMT format.
v 1 PT The short generic non-location format.

Where that is unavailable, falls back to the generic location format ("VVVV"), then the short localized GMT format as the final fallback.

4 Pacific Time The long generic non-location format.

Where that is unavailable, falls back to generic location format ("VVVV").

V 1 uslax The short time zone ID.

Where that is unavailable, the special short time zone ID unk (Unknown Zone) is used.
Note: This specifier was originally used for a variant of the short specific non-location format, but it was deprecated in the later version of this specification. In CLDR 23, the definition of the specifier was changed to designate a short time zone ID.

2 America/Los_Angeles The long time zone ID.
3 Los Angeles The exemplar city (location) for the time zone.

Where that is unavailable, the localized exemplar city name for the special zone Etc/Unknown is used as the fallback (for example, "Unknown City").

4 Los Angeles Time The generic location format.

Where that is unavailable, falls back to the long localized GMT format ("OOOO"; Note: Fallback is only necessary with a GMT-style Time Zone ID, like Etc/GMT-830.)
This is especially useful when presenting possible timezone choices for user selection, since the naming is more uniform than the "v" format.

X 1 -08

+0530
Z

The ISO8601 basic format with hours field and optional minutes field.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as x, plus "Z".)

2 -0800

Z

The ISO8601 basic format with hours and minutes fields.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xx, plus "Z".)

3 -08:00

Z

The ISO8601 extended format with hours and minutes fields.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxx, plus "Z".)

4 -0800

-075258
Z

The ISO8601 basic format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxxx, plus "Z".)
Note: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.

5 -08:00

-07:52:58
Z

The ISO8601 extended format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.

The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxxxx, plus "Z".)
Note: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.

x 1 -08

+0530

The ISO8601 basic format with hours field and optional minutes field. (The same as X, minus "Z".)
2 -0800 The ISO8601 basic format with hours and minutes fields. (The same as XX, minus "Z".)
3 -08:00 The ISO8601 extended format with hours and minutes fields. (The same as XXX, minus "Z".)
4 -0800

-075258

The ISO8601 basic format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields. (The same as XXXX, minus "Z".)

Note: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.

5 -08:00

-07:52:58

The ISO8601 extended format with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields. (The same as XXXXX, minus "Z".)

Note: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.

Old time format tokens

This is only used if your time format contains at least one %. You should not use this syntax, it is only available for compatibility with older files

%aAbbreviated weekday name
%AFull weekday name
%bAbbreviated month name
%BFull month name
%cShorthand for “x", the locale format for date and time
%dDay of the month as a decimal number (01-31)
%eSame as %d but does not print the leading 0 for days 1 through 9 (unlike strftime(), does not print a leading space)
%FMilliseconds as a decimal number (000-999)
%HHour based on a 24-hour clock as a decimal number (00-23)
%IHour based on a 12-hour clock as a decimal number (01-12)
%jDay of the year as a decimal number (001-366)
%mMonth as a decimal number (01-12)
%MMinute as a decimal number (00-59)
%pAM/PM designation for the locale
%SSecond as a decimal number (00-59)
%wWeekday as a decimal number (0-6), where Sunday is 0
%xDate using the date representation for the locale, including the time zone (produces different results from strftime())
%XTime using the time representation for the locale (produces different results from strftime())
%yYear without century (00-99)
%YYear with century (such as 1990)
%ZTime zone name (such as Pacific Daylight Time; produces different results from strftime())
%zTime zone offset in hours and minutes from GMT (HHMM)