(saving-c1)=

# Walkthrough: Saving and printing your work 
**(15 minutes)**

By now you've probably noticed the {menuselection}`File --> Save` sub-menu
on the canvas. There are many file formats listed here, but we're
only going to use three of them for this tutorial.

Select {menuselection}`Save --> canvas-name.C` from one of the canvases in your ROOT
session. Let's assume for the moment that you're working with canvas
`c1`, so the file "c1.C" is created. In your UNIX window, type

    > less c1.C

:::{note}
If you get complaints about a file not found, the name of the canvas is
"see-one," not "see-ell."

This can be an interesting
way to learn more ROOT commands. However, it doesn't record the
procedure you went through to create your plots, only the minimal
commands necessary to display them.
:::

Next, select {menuselection}`Save --> c1.pdf` from the same canvas.

:::{tip}
Not only is the PDF format useful if you want to print something, but
it's usually simple to embed a PDF file in a paper or a presentation.
You can't embed a ROOT macro in a Powerpoint document and expect to see
its graph!
:::

Finally, select {menuselection}`Save --> c1.root` from the same canvas to create the
file `c1.root`. Quit ROOT with the `.q` command, and start it again.

To re-create your canvas from the ".C" file, use the command

    [] .x c1.C

:::{note}
This is your first experience with a ROOT "macro," a stored sequence of
ROOT commands that you can execute at a later time. One advantage of the
".C method" is that you can edit the macro file, or cut-and-paste useful
command sequences into macro files of your own.[^f28]

You can also start ROOT and have it execute the macro all in a single
line:

    > root c1.C
:::

:::{admonition} Printing at Nevis
:class: note

If you are physically in the Nevis research building, you can 
print out your PDF file with the command

    > lpr -Pbw-research c1.pdf

If you want to print directly from the ROOT canvas, click on 
{menuselection}`File --> Print`, type `lpr -Pbw-research`
in the first text box and leave the second one empty. Again, the printer
name "bw-research" only has meaning at Nevis.
:::


[^f28]: This is still useful if you're working in pyroot, though
    you'll have to do some translation from C++ to Python. {ref}`This
    discussion <differences>` may help with
    that conversion.