d.grid - GRASS manual
Author: GRASS Development Team
Description: d.grid: Overlays a user-specified grid in the active display frame on the graphics monitor.
Keywords: display, cartography, graticule, grid

## NAME

d.grid - Overlays a user-specified grid in the active display frame on the graphics monitor.

## KEYWORDS

display, cartography, graticule, grid

## SYNOPSIS

d.grid
d.grid --help
d.grid [-agwcdfnbt] size=value [origin=east,north] [direction=string] [width=float] [color=name] [border_color=name] [text_color=name] [bgcolor=name] [fontsize=integer] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

### Flags:

-a
  Align the origin to the east-north corner of the current region
-g
  Draw geographic grid (referenced to current ellipsoid)
-w
  Draw geographic grid (referenced to WGS84 ellipsoid)
-c
  Draw '+' marks instead of grid lines
-d
  Draw '.' marks instead of grid lines
-f
  Draw fiducial marks instead of grid lines
-n
  Disable grid drawing
-b
  Disable border drawing
-t
  Disable text drawing
--help
  Print usage summary
--verbose
  Verbose module output
--quiet
  Quiet module output
--ui
  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

size=value [required]
  Size of grid to be drawn (in map units)
  0 for north-south resolution of the current region. In map units or DDD:MM:SS format. Example: "1000" or "0:10"
origin=east,north
  Lines of the grid pass through this coordinate
  Default: 0,0
direction=string
  Draw only east-west lines, north-south lines, or both
  Options: both, east-west, north-south
  Default: both
width=float
  Grid line width
color=name
  Grid color
  Either a standard color name or R:G:B triplet
  Default: gray
border_color=name
  Border color
  Either a standard color name or R:G:B triplet
  Default: black
text_color=name
  Text color
  Either a standard color name or R:G:B triplet
  Default: gray
bgcolor=name
  Background color
  Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none"
  Default: none
fontsize=integer
  Font size for gridline coordinate labels
  Options: 1-72
  Default: 9

## DESCRIPTION

d.grid overlays a grid of user-defined size and color in the active display frame on the graphics monitor. The grid can be created as a standard rectangular grid or a geographic grid.

If the user provides a -g flag a geographic (projected) grid will be drawn. With the -g flag the size argument accepts both decimal degrees and colon separated ddd:mm:ss coordinates (eg. `00:30:00` for half of a degree). A geographic grid cannot be drawn for a latitude/longitude or XY projection.

Colors may be standard named GRASS colors (red, green, aqua, etc.) or a numerical R:G:B triplet, where component values range from 0-255. Grid color can be set with option color. Options text_color and bgcolor set the color of the text and its background.

The grid drawing may be turned off by using the -n flag.
The border drawing may be turned off by using the -b flag.
The coordinate text may be turned off by using the -t flag.

To draw grid lines at different intervals, e.g. at high latitudes, you can run the module twice, once with direction=east-west at one interval size, and again with direction=north-south at another interval size.

## EXAMPLES

To draw a red geographic grid with 30 minute grid spacing, run one of the following commands:

    d.grid -g size=00:30:00 color=red

or

    d.grid -g size=0.5 color=255:0:0

Figure: Showing a geographic grid in red line color
To draw a blue standard rectangular grid at a 500 (meter) spacing run the following:

    d.grid size=500 color=blue

Figure: Showing a rectangular grid in blue line color

## SEE ALSO

d.barscale, d.legend, d.geodesic, d.rhumbline, d.erase, d.frame, d.rast, v.mkgrid

## AUTHORS

James Westervelt, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
Geogrid support: Bob Covill
Border support: Markus Neteler
Text and RGB support: Hamish Bowman
Background color implemented as part of GSoC 2016 by Adam Laza, CTU in Prague

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: d.grid source code (history)

Latest change: Monday Dec 08 21:47:55 2025 in commit: d3c6479bef77a58e3b5d85259303dbfb9c1babe8

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© 2003-2026 GRASS Development Team, GRASS 8.6.0dev Reference Manual