# 1.9 Gridlines

Gridlines may be placed on a plot and subsequently removed via the statements:

    set grid
    set nogrid

respectively. The following commands are also valid:

    unset grid
    unset nogrid

By default, gridlines are drawn from the major and minor ticks of the default horizontal and vertical axes (which are the first axes in each direction unless set otherwise in the configuration file; see Chapter 7). However, the axes which should be used may be specified after the `set grid` command:

    set grid x2y2
    set grid x x2y2

The top example would connect the gridlines to the ticks of the `x2`- and `y2`-axes, whilst the lower would draw gridlines from both the `x`- and the `x2`-axes.

If one of the specified axes does not exist, then no gridlines will be drawn in that direction. Gridlines can subsequently be removed selectively from some axes via:

    set nogrid x2x3

The colors of gridlines can be controlled via the `set gridmajcolor` and `set gridmincolor` commands, which control the gridlines emanating from major and minor axis ticks respectively. The following example would set the minor grid lines on a graph to be drawn in blue:

    set gridmajcolor gray70
    set gridmincolor blue

Any of the color names listed in Section 7.4 can be used, as can any object of type `color`.