When I try to plot a graph on GNU Octave, and try to use plot, it gives me the following output
set terminal aqua enhanced title \"Figure 1\" size 560 420
I think your problem comes from using the CLI.
As of January 2, 2014. If you're using OS/X 10.9 (Maverics) then you can opt to use integrated GUI from the binary package by downloading the Octave 3.8.0 .dmg. Use Octave-gui not Octave-cli, or otherwise start the GUI from the CLI.
But because it is not quite as polished as we would like, we have decided to wait until the 4.0.x release series before making the GUI the default interface (until then, you can use the --force-gui option to start the GUI).
I've got this problem too and solved by installing an Aquaterm for mac as mentioned here.
p.s. If you get warnings like "warning: could not match any font: *-normal-normal-10" as I did, try to check your /usr/local/etc/fonts/fonts.conf
The following worked out for me
Uninstall any existing gnuplot on your OSX
brew uninstall gnuplot
Install gnuplot with either X or X11
brew install gnuplot --with-x
Finally, set the GNUTERM to X11
setenv("GNUTERM","X11")
I got the same problem when using Octave-cli, and I just avoid this by using "Octave-gui".
To install it without aquaterm:
brew cask install xquartz
brew install gnuplot --with-x
brew install octave
vim ~/.octaverc
setenv("GNUTERM", "X11")
graphics_toolkit("gnuplot");
And if you need Aqua terminal instead of X11 - this might help:
brew uninstall --force gnuplot
brew install gnuplot --with-aquaterm --with-qt4
You don't need to add setenv("GNUTERM","X11") or add GNUTERM env.var to octaverc file.