R help - Jul 2013 - Male and female signs as subscript in plot

Hello,

I'd like to add labels to my plot that include a male or female symbol as
subscript.
I'm working in Windows Vista and R 3.0.0.
I am able to add the male symbol to the plot as regular text (NOT as
subscript), e.g. with:
mtext("Male\u2642")
This displays the word "Male" followed by the male symbol on the plot.

But "\u2642" does not work when I try to put it as a subscript.
For example,
mtext(expression("Male"["\u2217"]))
successfully adds an asterisk as a subscript after the word "Male".
However,
mtext(expression("Male"["\u2642"]))
displays the word "Male" followed by a subscript of
"<U+2642>", i.e. the
symbol is not displayed.

How can I make the male symbol show as a subscript?

Many thanks for any suggestions!

Cheers,
Emily

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On 01/07/2013 03:19, Emily Weiser wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to add labels to my plot that include a male or female symbol
as
> subscript.
> I'm working in Windows Vista and R 3.0.0.
> I am able to add the male symbol to the plot as regular text (NOT as
> subscript), e.g. with:
> mtext("Male\u2642")
> This displays the word "Male" followed by the male symbol on the
plot.
>
> But "\u2642" does not work when I try to put it as a subscript.
> For example,
> mtext(expression("Male"["\u2217"]))
> successfully adds an asterisk as a subscript after the word
"Male".
> However,
> mtext(expression("Male"["\u2642"]))
> displays the word "Male" followed by a subscript of
"<U+2642>", i.e. the
> symbol is not displayed.
>
> How can I make the male symbol show as a subscript?
You cannot use non-native text with plotmath.  The issue is not that you 
used a subscript but that you passed an expression() call and hence 
invoked plotmath.  And the help does say

      In non-UTF-8 locales there is normally no support for symbols not
      in the languages for which the current encoding was intended.
> Many thanks for any suggestions!
Read all of ?plotmath.
>
> Cheers,
> Emily
>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
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