.. index:: ! pscontour

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pscontour
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.. only:: not man

    pscontour - Contour table data by direct triangulation [method]

Synopsis
--------

.. include:: common_SYN_OPTs.rst_

**pscontour** [ *table* ] **-C**\ [+]\ *cptfile* **-J**\ *parameters*
|SYN_OPT-Rz|
[ **-A**\ [**-**\ \|\ [+]\ *annot\_int*][*labelinfo*] ]
[ |SYN_OPT-B| ]
[ **-D**\ [*template*] ] 
[ **-G**\ [**d**\ \|\ **f**\ \|\ **n**\ \|\ **l**\ \|\ **L**\ \|\ **x**\ \|\ **X**]\ *params* ] 
[ **-I** ] [ **-Jz**\ \|\ **Z**\ *parameters* ] [ **-K** ] 
[ **-L**\ *pen* ] [ **-N** ] [ **-O** ] [ **-P** ] [ **-Q**\ *indexfile* ]
[ **-S**\ [\ *p*\ \|\ *t*] ]
[ **-T**\ [\ **+\|-**][\ *gap/length*][\ **:**\ [\ *labels*]] ]
[ |SYN_OPT-U| ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-V| ] [ **-W**\ [**+**]\ *pen* ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-X| ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-Y| ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-b| ]
[ |SYN_OPT-c| ]
[ |SYN_OPT-h| ]
[ |SYN_OPT-i| ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-p| ] 
[ |SYN_OPT-t| ]
[ |SYN_OPT-:| ]

|No-spaces|

Description
-----------

**pscontour** reads an ASCII [or binary] xyz-file and produces a raw
contour plot by triangulation. By default, the optimal Delaunay
triangulation is performed (using either Shewchuk’s [1996] or Watson’s
[1982] method as selected during GMT installation; type **pscontour
-** to see which method is selected), but the user may optionally
provide a second file with network information, such as a triangular
mesh used for finite element modeling. In addition to contours, the area
between contours may be painted according to the color palette file.
Alternatively, the x/y/z positions of the contour lines may be saved to
one or more output files (or stdout) and no plot is produced. 

Required Arguments
------------------

**-C**\ [+]\ *cont\_int*
    The contours to be drawn may be specified in one of three possible ways:

    (1) If *cont_int* has the suffix ".cpt" and can be opened as a
        file, it is assumed to be a color palette table. The color
        boundaries are then used as contour levels. If the cpt-file has
        annotation flags in the last column then those contours will be
        annotated. By default all contours are labeled; use **-A-** to
        disable all annotations.

    (2) If *cont_int* is a file but not a cpt-file, it is expected to
        contain contour levels in column 1 and a
        C(ontour) OR A(nnotate) in
        col 2. The levels marked C (or c) are contoured, the levels marked A
        (or a) are contoured and annotated. Optionally, a third column may
        be present and contain the fixed annotation angle for this contour
        level.

    (3) If no file is found, then *cont_int* is interpreted as a
        constant contour interval. However, if prepended with the + sign the
        *cont_int* is taken as meaning draw that single contour. The **-A**
        option offers the same possibility so they may be used together to
        plot only one annotated and one non-annotated contour.
        If **-A** is set and **-C** is not, then the contour interval is set
        equal to the specified annotation interval.

    If a file is given and **-T** is set, then only contours marked with
    upper case C or A will have tickmarks. In all cases the contour
    values have the same units as the file.

.. include:: explain_-J.rst_

.. |Add_-R| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_-R.rst_

.. |Add_-Rz| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_-Rz.rst_

Optional Arguments
------------------

.. |Add_intables| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_intables.rst_

**-A**\ [**-**\ \|\ [+]\ *annot\_int*][*labelinfo*]
    *annot_int* is annotation interval in data units; it is ignored if
    contour levels are given in a file. [Default is no annotations]. Append
    **-** to disable all annotations implied by **-C**. Alternatively prepend
    + to the annotation interval to plot that as a single contour. The optional
    *labelinfo* controls the specifics of the label formatting and consists
    of a concatenated string made up of any of the following control arguments:

.. include:: explain_labelinfo.rst_

.. include:: explain_-B.rst_

**-D**\ [*template*\ ]

.. include:: explain_contdump.rst_

**-G**

.. include:: explain_contlabel.rst_

**-I**
    Color the triangles using the color palette table. 

.. include:: explain_-Jz.rst_

.. include:: explain_-K.rst_

**-L**\ *pen* :ref:`(more ...) <set-pens>`
    Draw the underlying triangular mesh using the specified pen
    attributes [Default is no mesh].
**-N**
    Do NOT clip contours or image at the boundaries [Default will clip
    to fit inside region **-R**]. 

.. include:: explain_-O.rst_

.. include:: explain_-P.rst_

**-Q**\ *indexfile*
    Give name of file with network information. Each record must contain
    triplets of node numbers for a triangle [Default computes these
    using Delaunay triangulation (see **triangulate**)].

**-S**\ [\ *p*\ \|\ *t*]
    Skip all input *xyz* points that fall outside the region [Default
    uses all the data in the triangulation].  Alternatively, use **-St**
    to skip triangles whose three vertices are all outside the region.
    **-S** with no modifier is interpreted as **-Sp**.

**-T**\ [**+\|-**][*gap/length*][\ **:**\ [*labels*]]
    Will draw tickmarks pointing in the downward direction every *gap*
    along the innermost closed contours. Append *gap* and tickmark
    length (append units as **c**, **i**, or **p**) or use defaults
    [15\ **p**/3\ **p**]. User may choose to tick only local highs or local
    lows by specifying **-T+** or **-T-**, respectively. Append
    **:**\ *labels* to annotate the centers of closed innermost contours
    (i.e, the local lows and highs). If no *labels* is appended we use -
    and + as the labels. Appending two characters, **:LH**, will plot
    the two characters (here, L and H) as labels. For more elaborate
    labels, separate the two label strings by a comma (e.g.,
    **:**\ *lo*,\ *hi*). If a file is given by **-C** and **-T** is set,
    then only contours marked with upper case C or A will have tickmarks
    [and annotation]. 

.. include:: explain_-U.rst_

.. |Add_-V| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_-V.rst_

**-W**\ [**+**\ ]\ *pen* :ref:`(more ...) <set-pens>`
    Select contouring and set contour pen attributes. If the **+** flag
    is prepended then the color of the contour lines are taken from the
    cpt file (see **-C**). If the **-** flag is prepended then the color
    from the cpt file is applied both to the contours and the contour
    annotations. 

.. include:: explain_-XY.rst_

.. |Add_-bi| replace:: [Default is 3 input columns]. Use 4-byte integer triplets for node ids (**-Q**). 
.. include:: explain_-bi.rst_

.. |Add_-bo| replace:: [Default is 3 output columns]. 
.. include:: explain_-bo.rst_

.. include:: explain_-c.rst_

.. |Add_-h| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_-h.rst_

.. include:: explain_-icols.rst_

.. include:: explain_colon.rst_

.. |Add_perspective| unicode:: 0x20 .. just an invisible code
.. include:: explain_perspective.rst_

.. include:: explain_-t.rst_

.. include:: explain_help.rst_

Examples
--------

To make a raw contour plot from the file topo.xyz and drawing the
contours (pen = 2) given in the color palette file topo.cpt on a Lambert
map at 0.5 inch/degree along the standard parallels 18 and 24, use

   ::

    gmt pscontour topo.xyz -R320/330/20/30 -Jl18/24/0.5i -Ctopo.cpt -W0.5p > topo.ps

To create a color PostScript plot of the numerical temperature
solution obtained on a triangular mesh whose node coordinates and
temperatures are stored in temp.xyz and mesh arrangement is given by the
file mesh.ijk, using the colors in temp.cpt, run

   ::

    gmt pscontour temp.xyz -R0/150/0/100 -Jx0.1i -Ctemp.cpt -G -W0.25p > temp.ps

To save the triangulated 100-m contour lines in topo.txt and separate
them into multisegment files (one for each contour level), try

   ::

    gmt pscontour topo.txt -C100 -Dcontours_%.0f.txt

See Also
--------

:doc:`gmt`, :doc:`gmt.conf`,
:doc:`gmtcolors`,
:doc:`grdcontour`,
:doc:`grdimage`,
:doc:`nearneighbor`,
:doc:`psbasemap`, :doc:`psscale`,
:doc:`surface`,
:doc:`triangulate`

References
----------

Watson, D. F., 1982, Acord: Automatic contouring of raw data, *Comp. &
Geosci.*, **8**, 97-101.

Shewchuk, J. R., 1996, Triangle: Engineering a 2D Quality Mesh Generator
and Delaunay Triangulator, First Workshop on Applied Computational
Geometry (Philadelphia, PA), 124-133, ACM, May 1996.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake/triangle.html
