R help - Oct 2012 - ylim with only one value specified

Dear R developers,

I would like to have R choose the limits of the y-axis semi-automatically,
e.g., zero should be included, but the maximum should be chosen depending 
on the data.

Examples:

plot(1:10, 1:10) # selects min and max automatically
plot(1:10, 1:10, ylim=c(1, 10)) # manual definition
plot(1:10, 1:10, ylim=c(0, Inf)) # this would be a nice feature, i.e. lower y
limit = 0 defined manually, upper limit = 10 selected automatically

The relevant code from plot.default would have to be modified:

old:

ylim <- if (is.null(ylim)) 
        range(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
    else ylim

new:

ylim <- if (is.null(ylim)) 
        range(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
    else if(length(ylim) == 2 & ylim[2] == Inf)
            c(ylim[1], max(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
        else ylim

and some more if-else statements if cases like ylim=c(0, -Inf), 
ylim=c(Inf, 0), ylim=c(-Inf, 0) and ylim=c(-Inf, Inf)[as a replacement for NULL/
autoselection] and ylim=c(Inf, -Inf)[autoselection, reversed y axis] should be 
handled correctly.

I would find such a feature useful. Do you think it would interfere with other
functions?

Thank you for your consideration.

Best wishes,

Matthias Gondan

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 10:28 AM, Matthias Gondan <matthias-gondan at
gmx.de> wrote:
> Dear R developers,
>
> I would like to have R choose the limits of the y-axis semi-automatically,
> e.g., zero should be included, but the maximum should be chosen depending
> on the data.
>
> Examples:
>
> plot(1:10, 1:10) # selects min and max automatically
> plot(1:10, 1:10, ylim=c(1, 10)) # manual definition
> plot(1:10, 1:10, ylim=c(0, Inf)) # this would be a nice feature, i.e. lower
y limit = 0 defined manually, upper limit = 10 selected automatically
>
> The relevant code from plot.default would have to be modified:
>
> old:
>
> ylim <- if (is.null(ylim))
>         range(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
>     else ylim
>
> new:
>
> ylim <- if (is.null(ylim))
>         range(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
>     else if(length(ylim) == 2 & ylim[2] == Inf)
>             c(ylim[1], max(xy$y[is.finite(xy$y)])
>         else ylim
>
> and some more if-else statements if cases like ylim=c(0, -Inf),
> ylim=c(Inf, 0), ylim=c(-Inf, 0) and ylim=c(-Inf, Inf)[as a replacement for
NULL/
> autoselection] and ylim=c(Inf, -Inf)[autoselection, reversed y axis] should
be
> handled correctly.
>
> I would find such a feature useful. Do you think it would interfere with
other functions?
>
> Thank you for your consideration.
>
> Best wishes,
I remember this being discussed not too long ago, but I don't remember
the conclusion of that thread. My vote at the time (I might not have
voiced it) would be to have "NA" rather than Inf for the
'magic'
limits, but this doesn't allow your reversed-axis option.

Cheers,
Michael
>
> Matthias Gondan
>
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