1.2.5 Steps

The following plot styles allow data to be plotted with a series of horizontal steps associated with each supplied datapoint:

Each of these styles takes two columns of data as input containing the $x$- and $y$-coordinates of each datapoint. They expect identically-formatted data regardless of whether they are used on two- and three-dimensional plots; in the latter case, the steps are drawn in the plane $z=0$. An example of their appearance is shown in Figures 1.2(d), (e) and (f); for clarity, the positions of each of the supplied datapoints are marked by red crosses. These plot styles differ in their placement of the edges of each of the horizontal steps. The steps plot style places the right-most edge of each step on the datapoint it represents. The fsteps plot style places the left-most edge of each step on the datapoint it represents. The histeps plot style centres each step upon the datapoint it represents.