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Jamieson Cobleigh

2005-Sep-01 13:05 UTC

[R] Spacing and margins in plot

If I use the following command to plot points:

plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")

there is a large amount of space between the label "X Label" and the
actual x-axis.  If I change the xaxt="n" to xaxt="s", the
label "X
Label" don't move at all.  Is there a way to get the label "X
Label"
closer to the x-axis when xaxt="n"?



The plot I am generating is going to be included in a paper I am
writing.  I can cause the plot to be saved in a PDF file by doing the
following:

pdf("foo.pdf", width=5.5, height=4.25, onefile=FALSE)

plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")

dev.off();

In the resulting file, there is a lot of whitespace around the graph,
particularly between the top line of the plot area and the top of the
page.  Since I am including these plots in a paper, I want them to be
as large as possible and not take up any extra space.  Is there a way
to get R to draw a plot that goes all the way to the margins of the
print area?

Jamie

Uwe Ligges

2005-Sep-01 14:09 UTC

head link

[R] Spacing and margins in plot

Jamieson Cobleigh wrote:
> If I use the following command to plot points:
> 
> plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")
> 
> there is a large amount of space between the label "X Label" and
the
> actual x-axis.  If I change the xaxt="n" to xaxt="s",
the label "X
> Label" don't move at all.  Is there a way to get the label "X
Label"
> closer to the x-axis when xaxt="n"?
> 
> 
> 
> The plot I am generating is going to be included in a paper I am
> writing.  I can cause the plot to be saved in a PDF file by doing the
> following:
> 
> pdf("foo.pdf", width=5.5, height=4.25, onefile=FALSE)
> 
> plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")
> 
> dev.off();
> 
> In the resulting file, there is a lot of whitespace around the graph,
> particularly between the top line of the plot area and the top of the
> page.  Since I am including these plots in a paper, I want them to be
> as large as possible and not take up any extra space.  Is there a way
> to get R to draw a plot that goes all the way to the margins of the
> print area?
> 
> Jamie
For the size of margins see ?par and its argument "mar", for the 
position of the x-axis label, add it in a separate call to title() and 
specify the "line" where to add the text as in:

   par(mar = c(1, 4, 0, 0) + 0.1)
   plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
       xlab="", xaxt="n")
   title(xlab="X Label", line=0)


Uwe Ligges
> ______________________________________________
> 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

Earl F. Glynn

2005-Sep-01 14:17 UTC

head link

[R] Spacing and margins in plot

This technote explains the margin area (mar) and how to modify it to control
white space around a graphic:
http://research.stowers-institute.org/efg/R/Graphics/Basics/mar-oma/index.htm

When you have multiple figures on a graphic, you may also want to learn to
control the outer margin area (oma), which is also explained.

AFAIK, the only way to get the axis label "closer" to the axis is to
suppress the actual axis labels and use the mtext command to display
alternative text where you want it.  For example, look at the blue text in
Figure 2B (at the above link)  that is between the axis label and the axis.
This blue text is at line=2, when the axis labels are at line=3.

efg
Bioinformatics
Stowers Institute

"Jamieson Cobleigh" <cobleigh at gmail.com> wrote in message
news:7f50836c050901060555b9289d at mail.gmail.com...> If I use the following command to plot points:
>
> plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label",
xaxt="n")>
> there is a large amount of space between the label "X Label" and
the
> actual x-axis.  If I change the xaxt="n" to xaxt="s",
the label "X
> Label" don't move at all.  Is there a way to get the label "X
Label"
> closer to the x-axis when xaxt="n"?
>
> The plot I am generating is going to be included in a paper I am
> writing.  I can cause the plot to be saved in a PDF file by doing the
> following:
>
> pdf("foo.pdf", width=5.5, height=4.25, onefile=FALSE)
>
> plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="X Label",
xaxt="n")>
> dev.off();
>
> In the resulting file, there is a lot of whitespace around the graph,
> particularly between the top line of the plot area and the top of the
> page.  Since I am including these plots in a paper, I want them to be
> as large as possible and not take up any extra space.  Is there a way
> to get R to draw a plot that goes all the way to the margins of the
> print area?

Jamieson Cobleigh

2005-Sep-01 14:25 UTC

head link

[R] Spacing and margins in plot

That worked and gave me enough information so to make it look exactly
the way I want.

Thanks!

Jamie

On 9/1/05, Chuck Cleland <ccleland at optonline.net>
wrote:> How about this:
> 
> par(mar=c(2,4,1,1))
> 
> plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y Label",
xlab="", xaxt="n")
> 
> mtext(side=1, line=0.5, "X Label")
> 
> hope it helps,
> 
> Chuck
> 
> Jamieson Cobleigh wrote:
> > If I use the following command to plot points:
> >
> > plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y
Label", xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")
> >
> > there is a large amount of space between the label "X Label"
and the
> > actual x-axis.  If I change the xaxt="n" to
xaxt="s", the label "X
> > Label" don't move at all.  Is there a way to get the label
"X Label"
> > closer to the x-axis when xaxt="n"?
> >
> >
> >
> > The plot I am generating is going to be included in a paper I am
> > writing.  I can cause the plot to be saved in a PDF file by doing the
> > following:
> >
> > pdf("foo.pdf", width=5.5, height=4.25, onefile=FALSE)
> >
> > plot(c(1,2,2,3,3,3), type="p", pch=20, ylab="Y
Label", xlab="X Label", xaxt="n")
> >
> > dev.off();
> >
> > In the resulting file, there is a lot of whitespace around the graph,
> > particularly between the top line of the plot area and the top of the
> > page.  Since I am including these plots in a paper, I want them to be
> > as large as possible and not take up any extra space.  Is there a way
> > to get R to draw a plot that goes all the way to the margins of the
> > print area?
> >
> > Jamie
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > 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
> >
> >
> 
> --
> Chuck Cleland, Ph.D.
> NDRI, Inc.
> 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor
> New York, NY 10010
> tel: (212) 845-4495 (Tu, Th)
> tel: (732) 452-1424 (M, W, F)
> fax: (917) 438-0894
> 
>

Raubertas, Richard

2005-Sep-06 22:13 UTC

head link

[R] Spacing and margins in plot

You can do this with the 'mgp' argument to par()  (see ?par).
For example, I find par(mgp=c(2, 0.75, 0)) (which puts the
axis label on line 2 and the axis values on line 0.75) nicely
"tightens up" the space around a plot.

Rich Raubertas
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Earl F. Glynn
> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 11:14 AM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] Spacing and margins in plot
> 
> 
> "Chris Wallace" <c.wallace at qmul.ac.uk> wrote in message
> news:m3wtm0502o.fsf at qmul.ac.uk...
> 
> > how about
> > plot(..., xlab="")
> > title(xlab="label text", line=2)
> 
> Yes, Chris, I like your idea, especially when I can "fix" 
> both X and Y axes
> at the same time:
> 
>   plot(0, xlab="",ylab="")
>   title(xlab="X axis", ylab="Y axis", line=2)
> 
> I'd prefer a way to set the axis title line at the same time 
> I change the
> mar parameters, but it's not a big deal.
> 
> Thanks.
> efg
> 
> ______________________________________________
> 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
> 
> 
>

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