thr3ads.net - R help - [R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels [Apr 2005]

If this information is useful, please help other people find it:
Share via:

Michael Friendly

2005-Apr-15 16:12 UTC

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

For a variety of displays (mosaicplots, barplots, ...)
one often wants to either abbreviate or wrap long labels,
particularly when these are made up of several words.
In general, it would be nice to have a function,

abbreviate.or.wrap <-
    function(x, maxlength=10, maxlines=2, split=" ") {
}

that would take a character vector or a list of vectors, x,
and try to abbreviate or wrap them to fit approximately
the maxlength and maxlines constraints, using the split
argument to specify allowable characters to wrap to multiple
lines.

For example, this two-way table has dimnames too long to
be displayed nicely in a mosaicplot:

 > library(catspec)
 > library(vcd)
 >
 > data(FHtab)
 > FHtab<-as.data.frame(FHtab)
 >
 > xtable <- xtabs(Freq ~ .,FHtab)
 > lab <- dimnames(xtable)
 > lab
$OccFather
[1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"    "Lower manual"
[5] "Farm"

$OccSon
[1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"    "Lower manual"
[5] "Farm"

abbreviate works here, but gives results that aren't very readable:

 > lapply(lab, abbreviate, 8)
$OccFather
Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower manual       Farm
      "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"      "Uppermnl"  
"Lowermnl"
   "Farm"

$OccSon
Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower manual 
    Farm
      "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"      "Uppermnl"  
"Lowermnl"
   "Farm"

In a related thread, Marc Schwartz proposed a solution for wrapping
labels, based on

 >short.labels <- sapply(labels, function(x) paste(strwrap(x,
                          10), collapse = "\n"), USE.NAMES = FALSE)

But, my attempt to use strwrap in my context gives a single string
for each set of dimension names:

 > stack.lab <-function(x) { paste(strwrap(x,10), collapse =
"\n") }
 > lapply(lab, stack.lab)
$OccFather
[1]
"Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nmanual\nFarm"

$OccSon
[1]
"Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nmanual\nFarm"

For my particular example, I can do what I want with gsub, but it is
hardly general:

 > lab[[1]] <- gsub(" ","\n", lab[[1]])
 > lab[[2]] <- lab[[1]]   # cheating: I know it's a square table
 > lab
$OccFather
[1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
"Lower\nmanual"
[5] "Farm"

$OccSon
[1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
"Lower\nmanual"
[5] "Farm"

 > dimnames(xtable) <- lab

Then,
mosaicplot(xtable, shade=TRUE)
gives a nice display!

Can anyone help with a more general solution for wrapping labels
or abbreviate.or.wrap()?

thanks,
-Michael

-- 
Michael Friendly     Email: friendly at yorku.ca
Professor, Psychology Dept.
York University      Voice: 416 736-5115 x66249 Fax: 416 736-5814
4700 Keele Street    http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html
Toronto, ONT  M3J 1P3 CANADA

John Fox

2005-Apr-15 16:32 UTC

head link

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

Dear Mike,

There is an abbreviate() function that will do some of what you want; it
shouldn't be too hard to start with that and add the rest, such as wrapping.

Regards,
 John

--------------------------------
John Fox
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8S 4M4
905-525-9140x23604
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox 
-------------------------------- 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of 
> Michael Friendly
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 11:12 AM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: [R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels
> 
> For a variety of displays (mosaicplots, barplots, ...) one 
> often wants to either abbreviate or wrap long labels, 
> particularly when these are made up of several words.
> In general, it would be nice to have a function,
> 
> abbreviate.or.wrap <-
>     function(x, maxlength=10, maxlines=2, split=" ") { }
> 
> that would take a character vector or a list of vectors, x, 
> and try to abbreviate or wrap them to fit approximately the 
> maxlength and maxlines constraints, using the split argument 
> to specify allowable characters to wrap to multiple lines.
> 
> For example, this two-way table has dimnames too long to be 
> displayed nicely in a mosaicplot:
> 
>  > library(catspec)
>  > library(vcd)
>  >
>  > data(FHtab)
>  > FHtab<-as.data.frame(FHtab)
>  >
>  > xtable <- xtabs(Freq ~ .,FHtab)
>  > lab <- dimnames(xtable)
>  > lab
> $OccFather
> [1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"
> "Lower manual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"
> "Lower manual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> abbreviate works here, but gives results that aren't very readable:
> 
>  > lapply(lab, abbreviate, 8)
> $OccFather
> Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower 
> manual       Farm
>       "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"     
"Uppermnl"      "Lowermnl"
>    "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower manual 
>     Farm
>       "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"     
"Uppermnl"      "Lowermnl"
>    "Farm"
> 
> In a related thread, Marc Schwartz proposed a solution for 
> wrapping labels, based on
> 
>  >short.labels <- sapply(labels, function(x) paste(strwrap(x,
>                           10), collapse = "\n"), USE.NAMES =
FALSE)
> 
> But, my attempt to use strwrap in my context gives a single 
> string for each set of dimension names:
> 
>  > stack.lab <-function(x) { paste(strwrap(x,10), collapse = 
> "\n") }  > lapply(lab, stack.lab) $OccFather [1] 
> "Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nman
> ual\nFarm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1] 
> "Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nman
> ual\nFarm"
> 
> For my particular example, I can do what I want with gsub, 
> but it is hardly general:
> 
>  > lab[[1]] <- gsub(" ","\n", lab[[1]])
>  > lab[[2]] <- lab[[1]]   # cheating: I know it's a square table
>  > lab
> $OccFather
> [1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
> "Lower\nmanual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
> "Lower\nmanual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
>  > dimnames(xtable) <- lab
> 
> Then,
> mosaicplot(xtable, shade=TRUE)
> gives a nice display!
> 
> Can anyone help with a more general solution for wrapping 
> labels or abbreviate.or.wrap()?
> 
> thanks,
> -Michael
> 
> -- 
> Michael Friendly     Email: friendly at yorku.ca
> Professor, Psychology Dept.
> York University      Voice: 416 736-5115 x66249 Fax: 416 736-5814
> 4700 Keele Street    http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html
> Toronto, ONT  M3J 1P3 CANADA
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

Marc Schwartz

2005-Apr-15 17:29 UTC

head link

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

On Fri, 2005-04-15 at 12:12 -0400, Michael Friendly
wrote:> For a variety of displays (mosaicplots, barplots, ...)
> one often wants to either abbreviate or wrap long labels,
> particularly when these are made up of several words.
> In general, it would be nice to have a function,
> 
> abbreviate.or.wrap <-
>     function(x, maxlength=10, maxlines=2, split=" ") {
> }
> 
> that would take a character vector or a list of vectors, x,
> and try to abbreviate or wrap them to fit approximately
> the maxlength and maxlines constraints, using the split
> argument to specify allowable characters to wrap to multiple
> lines.
> 
> For example, this two-way table has dimnames too long to
> be displayed nicely in a mosaicplot:
> 
>  > library(catspec)
>  > library(vcd)
>  >
>  > data(FHtab)
>  > FHtab<-as.data.frame(FHtab)
>  >
>  > xtable <- xtabs(Freq ~ .,FHtab)
>  > lab <- dimnames(xtable)
>  > lab
> $OccFather
> [1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"    "Lower manual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1] "Upper nonmanual" "Lower nonmanual" "Upper
manual"    "Lower manual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> abbreviate works here, but gives results that aren't very readable:
> 
>  > lapply(lab, abbreviate, 8)
> $OccFather
> Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower manual       Farm
>       "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"     
"Uppermnl"      "Lowermnl"
>    "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> Upper nonmanual Lower nonmanual    Upper manual    Lower manual 
>     Farm
>       "Upprnnmn"      "Lwrnnmnl"     
"Uppermnl"      "Lowermnl"
>    "Farm"
> 
> In a related thread, Marc Schwartz proposed a solution for wrapping
> labels, based on
> 
>  >short.labels <- sapply(labels, function(x) paste(strwrap(x,
>                           10), collapse = "\n"), USE.NAMES =
FALSE)
> 
> But, my attempt to use strwrap in my context gives a single string
> for each set of dimension names:
> 
>  > stack.lab <-function(x) { paste(strwrap(x,10), collapse =
"\n") }
>  > lapply(lab, stack.lab)
> $OccFather
> [1]
"Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nmanual\nFarm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1]
"Upper\nnonmanual\nLower\nnonmanual\nUpper\nmanual\nLower\nmanual\nFarm"
> 
> For my particular example, I can do what I want with gsub, but it is
> hardly general:
> 
>  > lab[[1]] <- gsub(" ","\n", lab[[1]])
>  > lab[[2]] <- lab[[1]]   # cheating: I know it's a square table
>  > lab
> $OccFather
> [1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
> "Lower\nmanual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
> $OccSon
> [1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
> "Lower\nmanual"
> [5] "Farm"
> 
>  > dimnames(xtable) <- lab
> 
> Then,
> mosaicplot(xtable, shade=TRUE)
> gives a nice display!
> 
> Can anyone help with a more general solution for wrapping labels
> or abbreviate.or.wrap()?
> 
> thanks,
> -Michael

Michael,

This is not completely generic (I have not used abbreviate() here) and
it could take some further fine tuning and perhaps even consideration of
creating a generic method. However, a possible solution to the problem
of using my previous approach on a list object and giving some
flexibility to also handle vectors:


# Core wrapping function
wrap.it <- function(x, len)
{ 
  sapply(x, function(y) paste(strwrap(y, len), 
                        collapse = "\n"), 
         USE.NAMES = FALSE)
}


# Call this function with a list or vector
wrap.labels <- function(x, len)
{
  if (is.list(x))
  {
    lapply(x, wrap.it, len)
  } else {
    wrap.it(x, len)
  }
}



Thus, for your labels in a list:
> wrap.labels(lab, 10)$OccFather
[1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
[4] "Lower\nmanual"    "Farm"            

$OccSon
[1] "Upper\nnonmanual" "Lower\nnonmanual"
"Upper\nmanual"
[4] "Lower\nmanual"    "Farm"   


and for the example vector in my prior post:
> labels <- factor(paste("This is a long label ", 1:10))
> wrap.labels(labels, 10) [1] "This is\na long\nlabel 1"  "This is\na long\nlabel 2" 
 [3] "This is\na long\nlabel 3"  "This is\na long\nlabel 4" 
 [5] "This is\na long\nlabel 5"  "This is\na long\nlabel 6" 
 [7] "This is\na long\nlabel 7"  "This is\na long\nlabel 8" 
 [9] "This is\na long\nlabel 9"  "This is\na long\nlabel 10"


To incorporate abbreviate() here, you could perhaps modify the
wrap.labels() syntax to use a "wrap = TRUE/FALSE" argument to
explicitly
indicate which approach you want, or perhaps develop some decision tree
approach to automate the process.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

Maybe Matching Threads

models for square tables

R help - Apr 2005 - abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

[R] abbreviate or wrap dimname labels

Maybe Matching Threads