R help - Aug 2006 - expression() - Superscript in y-axis, keeping line break in string

I've tried several different ways to accomplish this, but as yet to no
avail.  My y-axis for a plot has a rather long label, and thus I have
been using "/n" to break it into two lines.  However, to make it
technically correct for publication, I also need to use superscript in
the label.  For example:

     par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
     plot(1:10,
          ylab="14C-glyphosate line1\n line2")

will provide the text in two lines as I would like it.  However, I am
trying to keep those same line breaks when using expression() to get my
superscript number.  This will not work, as it aligns the "14C"
section
with the bottom line of the expression making little sense to the
reader.

     par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
     plot(1:10,
          ylab=expression(" "^14*C*"-glyphosate line1\n
line2"))

Is there a way to align the "14C" portion of the expression with the
top
line of the string rather than the bottom line?  Any suggestions are
greatly appreciated.
Andrew


-- 
Andrew Kniss
Assistant Research Scientist
University of Wyoming 
Department of Plant Sciences

akniss at uwyo.edu
Office: (307) 766-3949
Fax:    (307) 766-5549

On Fri, 2006-08-04 at 09:47 -0600, Andrew Kniss wrote:
> I've tried several different ways to accomplish this, but as yet to no
> avail.  My y-axis for a plot has a rather long label, and thus I have
> been using "/n" to break it into two lines.  However, to make it
> technically correct for publication, I also need to use superscript in
> the label.  For example:
> 
>      par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
>      plot(1:10,
>           ylab="14C-glyphosate line1\n line2")
> 
> will provide the text in two lines as I would like it.  However, I am
> trying to keep those same line breaks when using expression() to get my
> superscript number.  This will not work, as it aligns the "14C"
section
> with the bottom line of the expression making little sense to the
> reader.
> 
>      par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
>      plot(1:10,
>           ylab=expression(" "^14*C*"-glyphosate line1\n
line2"))
> 
> Is there a way to align the "14C" portion of the expression with
the top
> line of the string rather than the bottom line?  Any suggestions are
> greatly appreciated.
> Andrew
plotmath, as has been covered many times previously, does not support
multi-line expressions. A note should probably be added to ?plotmath on
this.

Thus, you need to create each line in the label separately:

  par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
  
  plot(1:10, ylab = "")

  # Now use mtext() to place each line of the y axis label

  mtext(2, text = expression(" "^14*C*"-glyphosate line1"),
line = 3)

  mtext(2, text = "line2", line = 2)

See ?mtext for more information.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

Use atop:

   plot(1, main = expression(atop(" "^14*C*"-glyphosate
line", "line2")))

On 8/4/06, Andrew Kniss <akniss at uwyo.edu>
wrote:
> I've tried several different ways to accomplish this, but as yet to no
> avail.  My y-axis for a plot has a rather long label, and thus I have
> been using "/n" to break it into two lines.  However, to make it
> technically correct for publication, I also need to use superscript in
> the label.  For example:
>
>     par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
>     plot(1:10,
>          ylab="14C-glyphosate line1\n line2")
>
> will provide the text in two lines as I would like it.  However, I am
> trying to keep those same line breaks when using expression() to get my
> superscript number.  This will not work, as it aligns the "14C"
section
> with the bottom line of the expression making little sense to the
> reader.
>
>     par(oma=c(0,0,2,0),mar=c(5,6,0.25,2),lheight=1)
>     plot(1:10,
>          ylab=expression(" "^14*C*"-glyphosate line1\n
line2"))
>
> Is there a way to align the "14C" portion of the expression with
the top
> line of the string rather than the bottom line?  Any suggestions are
> greatly appreciated.
> Andrew
>
>
> --
> Andrew Kniss
> Assistant Research Scientist
> University of Wyoming
> Department of Plant Sciences
>
> akniss at uwyo.edu
> Office: (307) 766-3949
> Fax:    (307) 766-5549
>
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