Display underscore rather than subscript in gnuplot titles - gnuplot

Question

Short question:
How do I display the _ (underscore) character in a title in gnuplot that is assigned from a variable name in gnuplot?
Details:
I have something like the following code:
items = "foo_abc foo_bcd bar_def"
do for [item in items] {
set title item
set output item.eps
plot item."-input.txt" using 1:2 title item with linespoints
}
This works fine with gnuplot except that the title get changed from foo_abc to fooabc. I don't know if I want to use an escape character because I don't want that to be in the file name. I've tried a couple of different options with single vs. double quotes but I haven't found what I need yet.

Answer 1

Instead of foo_abc, write foo\\\_abc.

Answer 2

Most gnuplot commands which generate labels accept a noenhanced keyword which will prevent gnuplot from using enhanced text for just that string. In this case, it should be sufficient to just do:
set title item noenhanced
An alternative is to create a function which will remove the unwanted text from the string when passing it to set output:
remove(x,s)=(i0=strstrt(s,x),i0 ? remove(x,s[:i0-1].s[i0+strlen(x):]):s)
# Makes me wish gnuplot syntax was more pythonic :-p
#TODO: Write a `replace` function :-). These just might go into my ".gnuplot" file...
I use an inline function to find the index of the first occurrence of x in the string s. I then remove that occurrence via string concatenation and slicing and recursively call the function again to remove the next occurence. If the index isn't found (strstrt returns 0) then we just return the string that was put in. Now you can do:
set output remove('\',item)
set title item

Answer 3

The underscore comes from treating titles as "enhanced text". Turn that off using
set key noenhanced

Answer 4

If you are using the enhanced eps terminal, that is the reason you need to escape the underscore in the first place. There was another related question today which explains the issue a bit. When you set the terminal, try:
set terminal postscript noenhanced <whatever else here...>
That works for me (Arch linux, gnuplot 4.7.0). If the enhanced terminal is essential, below is a partial solution I found. The assumption is that the underscore always appears in the same place in the string.
set terminal postscript enhanced
items = 'foo\_abc foo\_bcd bar\_def'
do for [item in items] {
set output item[1:3].item[5:*].'.eps'
set title item
plot sin(x)
}
This way you can escape the underscore and not have the \ appear in the filename. Note the use of single quotes for the 'items' string; see the previously linked question for details.

Answer 5

I had the same problem about the underscore in the title: such as I needed to write 4_3 subframe and I needed the enhanced postscript. The SIMPLEST way turned out to be from the adjacent post: ``If you are using the enhanced eps terminal, that is the reason you need to escape the underscore in the first place. There was another related question today which explains the issue a bit." - How is # produced in gnuplot?
So, I followed their advice and this worked:
plot 'LC.stats' u 3:4 ti "{/=15 1350 stars in C18 4\_3 subframe}" -
Double escape character before the underscore.