filetype

For some standard binary file formats gnuplot can extract all the necessary information from the file in question. As an example, "format=edf" will read ESRF Header File format files. For a list of the currently supported file formats, type show datafile binary filetypes.

There is a special file type called auto for which gnuplot will check if the binary file's extension is a quasi-standard extension for a supported format.

Command line keywords may be used to override settings extracted from the file. The settings from the file override any defaults. See set datafile binary.