Interface with `gnuplot` via a pipe

[nuxeh]

Hello, you can send data to gnuplot without using a temporary file, on unix-like OSes at least, by using popen to spawn gnuplot and write data and commands to it via a pipe, similar to what's mentioned at the bottom of this stack overflow answer:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/6934363/2977344https://stackoverflow.com/a/6934363/2977344

I've done this with some success from C code, and it's pretty tidy. Would you be interested in adding such functionality?

[dvolk]

Sorry for not getting to this; I don't mind leaving the files around, so I'm not going to work on this, but if you want to then sure.

[nomissbowling]

You can send data to gnuplot without using additional pipes.

cmd "$data << EOD"
cmd "0 0 A"
cmd "0 1 B"
cmd "1 1 C"
cmd "1 2 D"
cmd "2 2 E"
cmd "EOD"
cmd "plot $data with labels boxed"