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https://github.com/asmuth/clip

Create charts from the command line
https://github.com/asmuth/clip

chart charts cpp17 csv data-visualization plots plotting visualization

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Create charts from the command line

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README 

        
clip

====



clip (the _command line illustration processor_) is an open-source command line

program and software library for creating charts and other data-driven

illustrations.





  Getting Started ·

  Examples ·

  Documentation




Introduction

------------



In essence, clip is an automated drawing program; it reads a text file containing

a description of the chart or diagram and produces an image from it. This is best

explained by example, so here is how to draw a simple line chart using clip:



```css

class: plot;



limit-x: 0 7200;

limit-y: 0 100;



axes {

  font: "Roboto";

  position: left bottom;

  label-placement-x: linear-interval(900 900 7000);

  label-format-x: datetime("%H:%M:%S");

}



lines {

  data: "test/testdata/timeseries.csv";

  stroke-width: 0.8pt;

  color: #06c;

}

```



The input file from above (`example.clp`) can be processed with clip using the

following command:



    $ clip --export output.svg example.clp



This is the resulting SVG file (`output.svg`):





  

    Demo Chart

  




Note that this example is only intended to give you an idea of what the syntax

looks like; for an in-depth description of all parameters, please refer to

[the documentation](https://clip-lang.org). More examples can be found on

[the examples page](https://clip-lang.org/examples).



Documentation

-------------



You can find the full documentation and more examples at [clip-lang.org](https://clip-lang.org/).



Installation

------------



#### Compile from source



To build clip, you need an up-to-date C++ compiler, cmake, fmtlib, libharfbuzz,

libfreetype and cairo. Then run:



    $ cmake .

    $ make



To install the `clip` binary into your system, run `make install`:



    $ make install



To run the test suite, run `make test`:



    $ make test



For detailed installation instructions, have a look at the [Installation](https://clip-lang.org/documentation/installation/)

page.



FAQ

---



#### I'm getting build errors when compiling the code



clip is written in C++17 and requires a reasonably modern C++ compiler and standard

library. In most cases where the code doesn't build it's due to some problem with

the local build environment. Still, we always appreciate bug reports via Github

Issues so that we can improve our build system.



#### The test suite fails on my machine because text placement is slightly offset



The test suite requires that you have the original Microsoft Arial TTF files

installed on your machine. To verify that this is the case, run `fc-match

'Arial,Helvetica,Helvetica Neue:style=Regular,Roman'` and check that it returns

the correct 'arial.ttf' file.



#### What happened to the project name?



The project was started in 2011 and was initially called "FnordMetric". The

first version from 8 years ago also included facilities for storing and

transforming data in addition to the charting code. Over time, the data

processing parts were removed, leaving only the plotting code. However, as a

consequence, most of the search queries for the project name would return

outdated information, resulting in a generally confusing and stale-feeling

situation. The best solution seemed to be to rename the project and so it was

renamed to "clip".



Acknowledgements

----------------



  - Text rendering is based on the libre [freetype](https://www.freetype.org/)

    and [harfbuzz](https://harfbuzz.org) stack.



  - The structure of the plot elements is based on ideas from [The Grammar of

    Graphics](https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387245447) and the

    [ggplot2](https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org/) library.



  - A number of concepts in clip are modelled after the

    [CSS specification](https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/)



License

-------



    clip -- The command line illustration processor

    https://clip-lang.org



    Copyright (c) 2020, Paul Asmuth, Laura Schlimmer

    All rights reserved.



    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");

    you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.



    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

    WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

    limitations under the License.