To run any example, from within the repo, run cargo run --example <example_name> where <example name> is the name of the file without the .rs extension.
All the examples assumes the directory plotters-doc-data exists, otherwise those example crashs.
The output of these example files are used to generate the plotters-doc-data repo that populates the sample images in the main README. We also relies on the output of examples to detect protential layout changes. For that reason, they must be run with cargo from within the repo, or you must change the output filename in the example code to a directory that exists.
The examples that have their own directories and Cargo.toml files work differently. They are run the same way you would a standalone project.