# driver

select a graphics driver

## Calling Sequence

                current_driver = driver()
                driver(driver_name)
                previous_driver = driver(driver_name)

## Arguments

driver_name

  a string, driver to be selected (case insensitive).

current_driver

  a string, selected driver.

previous_driver

  a string, driver previously selected.

## Description

This function provides a switch between the different drivers for export or display.

Direct rendering on the screen or off-screen export without any graphical user interface. This is available in the mode `scilab-adv-cli` (or also called `-nw`)

Used without any input argument, the `driver` function returns the current graphics driver name.

## Screen output

To display graphic into a new window instead of off-screen format. This is the default behavior of Scilab.

It is possible to use the "null" format to direct graphics to nothing.

X11 or Rec

  output to the screen of the computer.

## Supported vectorial formats

The selected driver can be one of the following vectorial format:

Pos or ps

  output into Postscript format.

PDF

  output into PDF format.

SVG

  output into SVG format.

## Supported bitmap formats

The selected driver can be one of the following bitmap format:

GIF

  output into GIF format.

PNG

  output into PNG format.

JPEG or JPG

  output into JPEG format.

BMP

  output into BMP format.

PPM

  output into portable pixmap (PPM) format.

## Remark

To redirect the graphic output to a GIF file (which will be written in the temporary directory), you can use the following example:

    previous_driver = driver('GIF');
    xinit(TMPDIR+'/mygiffile.gif');
    plot3d();
    xend();
    driver(previous_driver); // Bring back the previous behavior of Scilab

For example if one has generated a sequence of GIF files named `img*.gif` it is possible to build an animated GIF file (named `anim.gif`) by

                convert -delay 10  img*.gif anim.gif

## See Also

- xinit
- xend

## History

5.4.0

- Return the previous driver value.
- Enable off-screen export. Scilab exports graphics without opening a new window.
- Support of new bitmap formats: PNG, JPEG and BMP.
- Support of new vectorial formats: PDF and SVG.
- The function accepts lower and upper case argument.
- Fig driver is no longer supported.