How to show "smooth csplines" curve on plot with right-to-left x-axis in Gnuplot

Question

I have this simple self-contained gnuplot script:

set terminal png size 400,300
set output 'test.png'

unset key

set xrange [30:50]

$data << EOD
42, 5.7
44, 8.1
46, 8.9
48, 9.2
50, 9.3
EOD

plot "$data" using 1:2 smooth csplines, \
     "$data" using 1:2 with points

Both the points and the csplines curve show up just fine in the output:

But now watch what happens when I reverse the x-axis direction by changing the xrange line to:

set xrange [50:30]

Everything else kept the same, the csplines curve is now missing from the output, whereas the points still show up correctly:

How can I get the csplines curve to show up in the second case?
(i.e. with the right-to-left axis.)

Answer 1

It does indeed seem that the output is not ideal. With Gnuplot 5.0.6, I get an empty plot as shown in the question while with Gnuplot 5.2.2, the figure looks like this:

As a fix, one could construct the interpolation first, save it via set table into a file and then plot everything together in the "reversed" order:

unset key

set xrange [30:50]

$data << EOD
42, 5.7
44, 8.1
46, 8.9
48, 9.2
50, 9.3
EOD

set table 'meta.csplines.dat'
plot "$data" using 1:2 smooth csplines
unset table

set xrange [50:30]
plot 'meta.csplines.dat' using 1:2 w l lw 2, \
     "$data" using 1:2 with points

This produces:

EDIT:

The set table command can be used in combination with a data block in order to avoid creating a temporary file (should the need arise):

unset key

set xrange [30:50]

$data << EOD
42, 5.7
44, 8.1
46, 8.9
48, 9.2
50, 9.3
EOD

set table $meta
plot "$data" using 1:2 smooth csplines
unset table

set xrange [50:30]
plot "$meta" using 1:2 w l lw 2, \
     "$data" using 1:2 with points