grap2graph

grap2graph [ -? ] [ -V ] [ file ... ]

-?
    Displays usage information and exits.

-V
    Prints the version information and exits.

file ...
    Specifies one or more input files containing grap descriptions. If no files are specified, grap2graph reads from standard input.

grap2graph is a command-line utility designed to translate graph descriptions written in the grap language into the dot language, which is the primary input format for Graphviz visualization tools. grap is a language typically used within troff or groff documents for typesetting mathematical graphs and charts.

By converting grap output to dot, grap2graph enables users to leverage the powerful rendering capabilities of Graphviz (like dot, neato, fdp, sfdp, twopi, circo) to visualize graphs originally defined for troff typesetting. This conversion facilitates a modern workflow for visualizing grap definitions outside of the traditional troff rendering pipeline, allowing for more diverse output formats (PNG, SVG, PDF, etc.) and interactive explorations through Graphviz's ecosystem. It reads grap descriptions from standard input and writes the corresponding dot graph to standard output.

grap2graph is primarily a translator for the syntax of grap into dot. It may not perfectly translate all grap constructs, especially those related to text positioning or highly specialized plotting features that don't have direct dot equivalents.

The output dot graph might require further manual adjustments for optimal visualization, depending on the complexity of the original grap definition and the desired Graphviz layout. It assumes the input is valid grap syntax; errors in the input grap code will likely lead to errors in the dot output or grap2graph itself.

grap2graph typically operates as a filter in a pipeline. For example, you might pipe the output of a grap preprocessor or a raw grap file into grap2graph. The dot output can then be piped directly to a Graphviz renderer like dot to generate an image:

cat mygraph.grap | grap2graph | dot -Tpng > mygraph.png

This allows for the conversion of grap definitions into various image formats supported by Graphviz without needing the full troff typesetting environment.

grap2graph is part of the Graphviz suite of open-source graph visualization software, which was originally developed at AT&T Labs Research. grap2graph was created to bridge the gap between older troff-based graph definitions using the grap language and the modern dot language and Graphviz rendering engine.

This utility facilitated the migration and reuse of existing grap content in a more flexible and widely supported visualization environment. Its development reflects the continuous effort to integrate different graph description paradigms within a unified visualization framework.

grap(1), dot(1), gvpr(1), neato(1), graphviz(7), troff(1)