rrdgraph_graph - rrdtool graph command reference

PRINT:vname:format

GPRINT:vname:format

COMMENT:text

VRULE:time#color[:legend]

LINE[width]:value[#color][:[legend][:STACK]]

AREA:value[#color][:[legend][:STACK]]

TICK:vname#rrggbb[aa][:fraction[:legend]]

SHIFT:vname:offset

PRINT:vname:CF:format (deprecated)

GPRINT:vname:CF:format (deprecated)

HRULE:value#color[:legend] (deprecated)

STACK:vname#color[:legend] (deprecated)

These instructions allow you to generate your image or report. If you don't use any graph elements, no graph is generated. Similarly, no report is generated if you don't use print options.

PRINT:vname:format

Depending on the context, either the value component or the time component of a VDEF is printed using format. It is an error to specify a vname generated by a DEF or CDEF. Any text in format is printed literally with one exception: The percent character introduces a formatter string. This string can be: For printing values:

*

%% just prints a literal '%' character

*

%#.#le prints numbers like 1.2346e+04. The optional integers # denote field width and decimal precision.

*

%#.#lf prints numbers like 12345.6789, with optional field width and precision.

*

%s place this after %le, %lf or %lg. This will be replaced by the appropriate SI magnitude unit and the value will be scaled accordingly (123456 -> 123.456 k).

*

%S is similar to %s. It does, however, use a previously defined magnitude unit. If there is no such unit yet, it tries to define one (just like %s) unless the value is zero, in which case the magnitude unit stays undefined. Thus, formatter strings using %S and no %s will all use the same magnitude unit except for zero values. For printing times:

*

%% just prints a literal '%' character

*

%a, CB%A print the abbreviated or full name of the day of the week.

*

%b, CB%B print the abbreviated or full name of the month.

*

%d, CB%m, CB%y, CB%H, CB%M, CB%S print day, month, year, hour, minute, and second in two-digit format.

*

%Y prints the year in 4-digit format.

*

%I, CB%p print the hour (01..12), 'am' or 'pm'.

*

%j, CB%w print day of the week (0..6), day of the year (1..366)

*

%c, CB%x, CB%X print date+time, date only, time only.

*

%U, CB%W number of the week of the current year, with either the first Sunday (%U) or the first Monday (%W) determining the first week.

*

%Z prints the time zone.

PRINT:vname:CF<:>format

Deprecated. Use the new form of this command in new scripts. The first form of this command is to be used with CDEF vnames.

GPRINT:vname:format

This is the same as CWPRINT, but printed inside the graph.

GPRINT:vname:CF:format

Deprecated. Use the new form of this command in new scripts. This is the same as CWPRINT, but printed inside the graph.

COMMENT:text

Text is printed literally in the legend section of the graph. Note that in RRDtool 1.2 you have to escape colons in COMMENT text in the same way you have to escape them in *PRINT commands by writing '\:'.

HRULE:value#color [ :legend ]

Deprecated. Use BILINE in new scripts.

VRULE:time#color [:legend ]

Draw a vertical line at time. Its color is composed from three hexadecimal numbers specifying the rgb color components (00 is off, FF is maximum) red, green and blue. Optionally, a legend box and string is printed in the legend section. time may be a number or a variable from a VDEF. It is an error to use vnames from DEF or CDEF here.

LINE[width]:value[#color][:[legend][:STACK]]

Draw a line of the specified width onto the graph. width can be a floating point number. If the color is not specified, the drawing is done 'invisibly'. This is useful when stacking something else on top of this line. Also optional is the legend box and string which will be printed in the legend section if specified. The value can be generated by DEF, VDEF, and CDEF. If the optional STACK modifier is used, this line is stacked on top of the previous element which can be a LINE or an AREA. When you do not specify a color, you cannot specify a legend. Should you want to use STACK, use the LINEx:<value>::STACK form.

AREA:value[#color][:[legend][:STACK]]

See LINE, however the area between the x-axis and the line will be filled.

TICK:vname#rrggbb[aa][:fraction[:legend]]

Plot a tick mark (a vertical line) for each value of vname that is non-zero and not *UNKNOWN*. The fraction argument specifies the length of the tick mark as a fraction of the y-axis; the default value is 0.1 (10% of the axis). Note that the color specification is not optional.

SHIFT:vname:offset

Using this command RRDtool will graph the following elements with the specified offset. For instance, you can specify an offset of ( 7*24*60*60 = ) 604'800 seconds to look back one week. Make sure to tell the viewer of your graph you did this ... As with the other graphing elements, you can specify a number or a variable here.

STACK:vname#color[:legend]

Deprecated. Use the BISTACK modifiers on the other commands.

Some notes on stacking

When stacking, an element is not placed above the X-axis but rather on top of the previous element. There must be something to stack upon.

You can use an invisible LINE or AREA to stacked upon.

An unknown value makes the entire stack unknown from that moment on. You don't know where to begin (the unknown value) and therefore do not know where to end.

If you want to make sure you will be displaying a certain variable, make sure never to stack upon the unknown value. Use a CDEF instruction with IF and UN to do so.

A colon ':' in a legend argument will mark the end of the legend. To enter a ':' as part of a legend, the colon must be escaped with a backslash '\:'. Beware that many environments process backslashes themselves, so it may be necessary to write two backslashes in order to one being passed onto rrd_graph.

The text printed below the actual graph can be formatted by appending special escape characters at the end of a text. When ever such a character occurs, all pending text is pushed onto the graph according to the character specified.

Valid markers are: \j for justified, \l for left aligned, \r for right aligned, and \c for centered. In the next section there is an example showing how to use centered formatting.

Normally there are two space characters inserted between every two items printed into the graph. The space following a string can be suppressed by putting a \g at the end of the string. The \g also ignores any space inside the string if it is at the very end of the string. This can be used in connection with %s to suppress empty unit strings.

 GPRINT:a:MAX:%lf%s\g

A special case is COMMENT:\s which inserts some additional vertical space before placing the next row of legends.

If you are using the proportional font in your graph, you can use tab characters or the sequence \t to line-up legend elements. Note that the tabs inserted are relative to the start of the current legend element!

rrdgraph gives an overview of how rrdtool graph works. rrdgraph_data describes DEF,CDEF and VDEF in detail. rrdgraph_rpn describes the RPN language used in the ?DEF statements. rrdgraph_graph page describes all of the graph and print functions.

Make sure to read rrdgraph_examples for tips&tricks.

Program by Tobias Oetiker <oetiker@ee.ethz.ch>

This manual page by Alex van den Bogaerdt <alex@ergens.op.het.net>