Circles

The circles style plots a circle with an explicit radius at each data point. The radius is always interpreted in the units of the plot's horizontal axis (x or x2). The scale on y and the aspect ratio of the plot are both ignored. If the radius is not given in a separate column for each point it is taken from set style circle. In this case the radius may use graph or screen coordinates.

Many combinations of per-point and previously set properties are possible. For 2D plots these include

   using x:y
   using x:y:radius
   using x:y:color
   using x:y:radius:color
   using x:y:radius:arc_begin:arc_end
   using x:y:radius:arc_begin:arc_end:color

By default a full circle will be drawn. It is possible to instead plot arc segments by specifying a start and end angle (in degrees) in columns 4 and 5.

A per-circle color may be provided in the last column of the using specifier. In this case the plot command must include a corresponding variable color term such as lc variable or fillcolor rgb variable.

For 3D plots the using specifier must contain

   splot DATA using x:y:z:radius:color

where the variable color column is options. See set style circle (p. [*]) and set style fill (p. [*]).

Examples:

   # draws circles whose area is proportional to the value in column 3
   set style fill transparent solid 0.2 noborder
   plot 'data' using 1:2:(sqrt($3)) with circles, \
        'data' using 1:2 with linespoints

   # draws Pac-men instead of circles
   plot 'data' using 1:2:(10):(40):(320) with circles

   # draw a pie chart with inline data
   set xrange [-15:15]
   set style fill transparent solid 0.9 noborder
   plot '-' using 1:2:3:4:5:6 with circles lc var
   0    0    5    0    30    1
   0    0    5   30    70    2
   0    0    5   70   120    3
   0    0    5  120   230    4
   0    0    5  230   360    5
   e

The result is similar to using a points plot with variable size points and pointstyle 7, except that the circles will scale with the x axis range. See also set object circle (p. [*]) and fillstyle (p. [*]).