Drawing vector graphics using a command line

[John D Lamb]

On 20/09/15 13:44, Johnny Rosenberg wrote:
> Anyone know of a tool to create SVG files (or similar) using some kind
> of macro or command line?

Two suggestions.

First, if you can tolerate encapsulated postscript, you can use LaTeX. 
The following is an example I used recently:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathptmx}

%% Pictures
\usepackage{pst-pdf,pst-node}

\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}[showgrid=false](0,0)(2,2)
   \psset{arrows=->}
   \rput(0.529,0.353){\dotnode{V1}}
   \rput(1.470,0.353){\dotnode{V2}}
   \rput(1.712,1.247){\dotnode{V3}}
   \rput(1.000,1.800){\dotnode{V4}}
   \rput(0.239,1.247){\dotnode{V5}}

   \ncline[linestyle=dashed]{V1}{V2}
   \ncline{V3}{V2}
   \ncline{V4}{V3}
   \ncline{V5}{V4}
   \ncline{V1}{V5}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}

This draws a pentagon with dashed and solid lines and nodes at the 
vertices. To convert to pdf use estopdf.

I used to write raw PostScript. But I rarely do this now that the LaTeX 
  PSTricks packages do what I want for simple graphics and R can handle 
the really complex stuff.

Second, IIRC SVG is a language you can just write. Have a look at some 
of these examples: http://www.w3schools.com/svg/svg_examples.asp. I have 
written some SVGs several years back, but usually I need pdf or eps 
format nowadays.

-- 
John D Lamb