d.barscale - GRASS manual
Author: GRASS Development Team
Description: d.barscale: Displays a barscale on the graphics monitor.
Keywords: display, cartography

## NAME

d.barscale - Displays a barscale on the graphics monitor.

## KEYWORDS

display, cartography

## SYNOPSIS

d.barscale
d.barscale --help
d.barscale [-ftn] [style=string] [at=x,y] [length=integer] [units=string] [label=string] [segment=integer] [color=name] [bgcolor=name] [text_position=string] [width_scale=float] [font=string] [fontsize=float] [path=name] [charset=string] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

### Flags:

-f
  Use feet/miles instead of meters
-t
  Draw the scale bar without text
-n
  Display north-arrow symbol.
--help
  Print usage summary
--verbose
  Verbose module output
--quiet
  Quiet module output
--ui
  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

style=string
  Type of barscale to draw
  Options: classic, line, solid, hollow, full_checker, part_checker, mixed_checker, tail_checker, up_ticks, down_ticks, both_ticks, arrow_ends
  Default: classic
  classic: Classic style
  line: Line style
  solid: Solid style
  hollow: Hollow style
  full_checker: Full checker style
  part_checker: Part checker style
  mixed_checker: Mixed checker style
  tail_checker: Tail checker style
  up_ticks: Up ticks style
  down_ticks: Down ticks style
  both_ticks: Both ticks style
  arrow_ends: Arrow ends style
at=x,y
  Screen coordinates of the rectangle's top-left corner
  (0,0) is lower-left of the display frame
  Options: 0-100
  Default: 0.0,10.0
length=integer
  Length of barscale in map units
  Options: 0-
  Default: 0
units=string
  Barscale units to display
  Options: meters, kilometers, feet, miles
label=string
  Custom label of unit
segment=integer
  Number of segments
  Options: 1-100
  Default: 10
color=name
  Bar scale and text color
  Either a standard color name or R:G:B triplet
  Default: black
bgcolor=name
  Background color (drawn behind the bar)
  Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none"
  Default: white
text_position=string
  Text position
  Options: under, over, left, right
  Default: right
width_scale=float
  Scale factor to change bar width
  Options: 0.5-100
  Default: 1
font=string
  Font name
fontsize=float
  Font size
  Options: 1-360
  Default: 12
path=name
  Path to font file
charset=string
  Text encoding (only applicable to TrueType fonts)

## DESCRIPTION

d.barscale displays a barscale on the graphics monitor at the given screen coordinates. If no coordinates are given it will draw the barscale in the bottom left of the display.

The barscale can drawn in a number of styles (see style parameter for their previews).

## NOTE

d.barscale will not work with Lat/Lon coordinate reference system as the horizontal scale distance changes with latitude. Try d.grid instead.

## SEE ALSO

d.graph, d.grid, d.legend, d.northarrow, g.region

## AUTHORS

Unknown, from USACE/CERL.
Major rewrite for GRASS 7 by Hamish Bowman

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: d.barscale source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday May 09 12:55:55 2026

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