R help - Jan 2011 - Plotting Factors -- Sorting x-axis

Hello;

How do I plot these data in R without the Months being ordered alphabetically?

   Months Prec
1     Jan   102.1
2     Feb    69.7
3     Mar    44.7
4     Apr    32.1
5     May    24.0
6     Jun    18.7
7     Jul    14.0
8     Aug    20.0
9     Sep    32.4
10    Oct    58.9
11    Nov    94.5
12    Dec   108.2


Eric
Eric Taylor, Air Quality Meteorologist, Health Protection,
Ministry of Health Services




	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On Jan 6, 2011, at 6:13 PM, Taylor, Eric HLS:EX wrote:
> Hello;
>
> How do I plot these data in R without the Months being ordered  
> alphabetically?
>
>   Months Prec
> 1     Jan   102.1
> 2     Feb    69.7
> 3     Mar    44.7
> 4     Apr    32.1
> 5     May    24.0
> 6     Jun    18.7
> 7     Jul    14.0
> 8     Aug    20.0
> 9     Sep    32.4
> 10    Oct    58.9
> 11    Nov    94.5
> 12    Dec   108.2
Since they are most likely factor variables (but even if not):

dfrm$Months <- factor(dfrm$Months, levels= month.abb)

Then the level ordering will be as expected.

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

That rather depends on what kind of plot you want to use.

Here is one option that you can use without any changes:

######
con <- textConnection("
   Months Prec
1     Jan   102.1
2     Feb    69.7
3     Mar    44.7
4     Apr    32.1
5     May    24.0
6     Jun    18.7
7     Jul    14.0
8     Aug    20.0
9     Sep    32.4
10    Oct    58.9
11    Nov    94.5
12    Dec   108.2
")
tab <- read.table(con)
closeAllConnections()
rm(con)

with(tab, barplot(Prec, names = as.character(Months)))

#####
## If you want to adjust the factor so that the levels remain in natural months
order, then
#####

tab <- within(tab, 
	Months <- factor(Months, levels = month.abb))

with(tab, barplot(Prec, names = levels(Months)))

######


________________________________________
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On
Behalf Of Taylor, Eric HLS:EX [Eric.Taylor at gov.bc.ca]
Sent: 07 January 2011 09:13
To: 'r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch'
Subject: [R]  Plotting Factors -- Sorting x-axis

Hello;

How do I plot these data in R without the Months being ordered alphabetically?

   Months Prec
1     Jan   102.1
2     Feb    69.7
3     Mar    44.7
4     Apr    32.1
5     May    24.0
6     Jun    18.7
7     Jul    14.0
8     Aug    20.0
9     Sep    32.4
10    Oct    58.9
11    Nov    94.5
12    Dec   108.2


Eric
Eric Taylor, Air Quality Meteorologist, Health Protection,
Ministry of Health Services




        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

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