Is there a standard file extension for gnuplot files?

Question

I have seen .gnu, .plt, and .gplot as file extensions for gnuplot scripts.

I know Linux doesn't care about file extensions, but what extension most universally declares to human beings "I am a gnuplot script!"?

Sally

Answer 1

As Romain, Dr. Person and neillb all point out and this wikibooks article confirms, there is no official standard extension for gnuplot files.

These three file extensions do seem popular:

.gpi
.plt
.gp

Of these .gp is shortest and seems like it would have the fewest collisions with other programs. But the other two extensions aren't in heavy use either. It appears that .plt was used by HPGL plotters and therefore some old Autocad files may have this extension. And files with a .gpi extension are used by Garmin GPS devices. Fwiw, googling for "gnuplot file extension gp" returns a few more results than similar searches for .gpi and .plt

While .gnuplot is a fair choice, it is seven characters long. Long file extensions can potentially detract from readability in the terminal because they open up the possibility of file names that are shorter than the file extension and because longer extensions are more likely to cause lines to wrap.

Pestle

Gnuplot for Windows now sets the default extension for when you want to open a gnuplot script as *.plt – Blend

FWIW, linguist recognizes .gp, .gnu, .gnuplot, .p, .plot, and .plt. – Michal

Answer 2

vim recognises .gpi, for more see Gnuplot Wikibook.

Corespondent

What does the i in gpi stand for? – Unknot

@knub: The Help for PLTGRAF seems to suggest “gnuplot instruction file” (search for “PLOT NAMING CONVENTIONS”). – Ez

As of Vim 8.2.4187, Vim also recognizes .gnuplot files. – Ibnsaud

That vim patch is for literal .gnuplot file, not extension. Sigh. – Fusion

Answer 3

Gnuplot uses .gnu for the demos on their website, so I take that to be the standard.

Tieback

Answer 4

what extension most universally declares to human beings "I am a gnuplot script!"?

For that, ".gnuplot" is hard to beat!

It's not common (probably because it's a bit long) but it unambiguously tells a human being what's inside the tin.

In contrast, wikipedia lists six other file formats with the extension .plt.

Darya

This is the best extension, all others are too cryptic. Shame it has little editor support. The shebang helps Vim there. – Surfboat

Answer 5

I don't think that ".gnuplot" should have been accepted as THE answer. There really isn't an answer. I've seen and used ".gp" before which is nice.

Jamilajamill

Answer 6

Wikipedia seems to suggest .plt would be standard-ish. That being said, GnuPlot itself doesn't define any standard and makes it freeform, so there isn't really an extension that tells "this is a gnuplot script".

Nitid

Answer 7

Worth noting. Visual Studio Code has an extension for gnuplot syntax highlighting. It defines 5 extensions for gnuplot files:

• .gp
• .gnuplot
• .gnu
• .plot
• .plt

Gyral

Answer 8

At least on Windows, the gnuplot installer associates the following file extensions with gnuplot:

• .gpl
• .gp
• .plt

Creating these file associations is optional.

Source: https://sourceforge.net/p/gnuplot/patches/552/

Paries

Answer 9

In freedesktop, .gp, .gplt, .gnuplot are used

Beheld