d.northarrow(1)

NAME
d.northarrow - Displays a north arrow on the graphics monitor.

KEYWORDS
display, cartography, map annotations, arrow

SYNOPSIS
d.northarrow
d.northarrow --help
d.northarrow [-twr] [style=string] [at=x,y] [rotation=float] [label=string] [color=name] [fill_color=name] [text_color=name] [width=float] [font=string] [fontsize=float] [path=name] [charset=string] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

  Flags:

-t
    Draw the symbol without text

-w
    Do not rotate text with symbol

-r
    Use radians instead of degrees for rotation

--help
    Print usage summary

--verbose
    Verbose module output

--quiet
    Quiet module output

--ui
    Force launching GUI dialog

  Parameters:

style=string
    North arrow style
    Options: 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9, fancy_compass, basic_compass, arrow1, arrow2, arrow3, star
    Default: 1a
    1a: Two color arrowhead
    1b: Two color arrowhead with circle
    2: Narrow with blending N
    3: Long with small arrowhead
    4: Inverted narrow inside a circle
    5: Triangle and N inside a circle
    6: Arrowhead and N inside a circle
    7a: Tall half convex arrowhead
    7b: Tall half concave arrowhead
    8a: Thin arrow in a circle
    8b: Fat arrow in a circle
    9: One color arrowhead
    fancy_compass: Fancy compass
    basic_compass: Basic compass
    arrow1: Simple arrow
    arrow2: Thin arrow
    arrow3: Fat arrow
    star: 4-point star

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: 85.0,15.0

rotation=float
    Rotation angle in degrees (counter-clockwise)
    Default: 0

label=string
    Displayed letter on the top of arrow
    Default: N

color=name
    Line color
    Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none"
    Default: black

fill_color=name
    Fill color
    Either a standard color name, R:G:B triplet, or "none"
    Default: black

text_color=name
    Text color
    Either a standard color name or R:G:B triplet

width=float
    Line width
    Default: 0

font=string
    Font name

fontsize=float
    Font size
    Options: 1-360
    Default: 14

path=name
    Path to font file

charset=string
    Text encoding (only applicable to TrueType fonts)

DESCRIPTION
d.northarrow displays a north arrow symbol at the given screen coordinates. If no coordinates are given it will draw the north arrow in the bottom right of the display. It can draw the north arrow in a number of styles (see the wiki page for details). With certain styles of north arrow label ’N’ is displayed by default, and can be changed with option label, for example for different languages. The label can be hidden with -t flag.

North arrow can be rotated, for example to align with true north, not grid north. The angle in degrees counter-clockwise (or radians with -r flag) can be specified with option rotation. Label is rotated together with the arrow, unless flag -w is specified.

EXAMPLES
Display a north arrow symbol as a basic compas with label NORTH, rotated by 8 degrees with label, with black line and gray fill:

d.mon wx0
d.northarrow style=basic_compas rotation=8 label=NORTH -w color=black fill_color=gray
d.mon -r

SEE ALSO
d.barscale, d.graph, d.grid, d.legend

AUTHOR
Hamish Bowman, Department of Geology, University of Otago, New Zealand
Improvements as part of GSoC 2016 by Adam Laza, CTU in Prague

SOURCE CODE

Available at: d.northarrow source code (history)

Accessed: Monday Jul 13 00:50:42 2026

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