3.25 shell

The shell command spawns an interactive shell. To return to `gnuplot`, type `logout` if using VMS, exit or the END-OF-FILE character if using Unix, `endcli` if using AmigaOS, or exit if using MS-DOS or OS/2.

There are two ways of spawning a shell command: using system command or via `!` ($ if using VMS). The former command takes a string as a parameter and thus it can be used anywhere among other gnuplot commands, while the latter syntax requires to be the only command on the line. Control will return immediately to `gnuplot` after this command is executed. For example, in AmigaOS, MS-DOS or OS/2,

           ! dir

or

           system "dir"
     

prints a directory listing and then returns to `gnuplot`.

Other examples of the former syntax:

            system "date"; set time; plot "a.dat"
            print=1; if (print) replot; set out; system "lpr x.ps"