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Paul Murrell

2025-Nov-12 20:04 UTC

[R] Jump between figures in multifigure environment

Hi

Base graphics is designed for drawing everything in a figure before 
moving on to the next figure.  Also, 'mfg' can only be set via par().
Are you looking for something like this ... ?


par(mfrow = c(2, 2))
for (i in 1:2) {
     for (j in 1:2) {
         par(mfg = c(i, j))
         plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n")
         text(0.5, 0.5, labels = paste("(", i, ",", j,
")"))
     }
}


If you really want to revisit previous figures, you might try 
split.screen(), but it is pretty fragile and, as the example below 
shows, still not designed for revisiting a previous *plot* (just a 
previous figure region) ...


split.screen(c(2, 2))
for (i in 1:4) {
     screen(i)
     plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n")
}
for (i in 1:2) {
     for (j in 1:2) {
         screen(2*(i - 1) + j)
         text(0.5, 0.5, labels = paste("(", i, ",", j,
")"))
     }
}


If you REALLY want to revisit previous drawing, you might need to look 
at {grid} viewports, which are designed to allow you to get back to the 
original drawing context ...


library(grid)
grid.newpage()
pushViewport(viewport(layout=grid.layout(2, 2)))
for (i in 1:2) {
     for (j in 1:2) {
         pushViewport(viewport(layout.pos.row=i, layout.pos.col=j,
                               name=paste0(i, j)))
         grid.rect(width=.8, height=.8)
         upViewport()
     }
}
for (i in 1:2) {
     for (j in 1:2) {
         downViewport(paste0(i, j))
         grid.text(paste("(", i, ",", j, ")"))
         upViewport()
     }
}


Paul


On 13/11/25 07:28, Naresh Gurbuxani wrote:> After drawing multiple figures, I want to select an earlier figure to add
some low level commands.  Using mfg parameter runs all commands in the most
recent figure only.  How can an earlier figure be selected?
> 
> Thanks,
> Naresh
> 
> par(mfrow = c(2, 2))
> for (i in 1:4) plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n?)
> for (i in 1:2) {for (j in 1:2) text(0.5, 0.5, labels = paste("(",
i, ",", j, ")"), mfg = c(i, j, 2, 2))}
> #All text is in bottom right figure only
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
-- 
Dr Paul Murrell (he/him)
Te Kura Tatauranga | Department of Statistics
Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
64 9 3737599 x85392
paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/

Naresh Gurbuxani

2025-Nov-12 21:25 UTC

head link

[R] Jump between figures in multifigure environment

Paul,

First solution works for me.  To change something in an earlier figure, I can
start over and redraw all figures.

In practice, how is mfg used?

Thanks,
Naresh

Sent from my iPhone
> On Nov 12, 2025, at 3:04?PM, Paul Murrell <paul at
stat.auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> 
> ?Hi
> 
> Base graphics is designed for drawing everything in a figure before moving
on to the next figure.  Also, 'mfg' can only be set via par().
> Are you looking for something like this ... ?
> 
> 
> par(mfrow = c(2, 2))
> for (i in 1:2) {
>    for (j in 1:2) {
>        par(mfg = c(i, j))
>        plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n")
>        text(0.5, 0.5, labels = paste("(", i, ",", j,
")"))
>    }
> }
> 
> 
> If you really want to revisit previous figures, you might try
split.screen(), but it is pretty fragile and, as the example below shows, still
not designed for revisiting a previous *plot* (just a previous figure region)
...
> 
> 
> split.screen(c(2, 2))
> for (i in 1:4) {
>    screen(i)
>    plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n")
> }
> for (i in 1:2) {
>    for (j in 1:2) {
>        screen(2*(i - 1) + j)
>        text(0.5, 0.5, labels = paste("(", i, ",", j,
")"))
>    }
> }
> 
> 
> If you REALLY want to revisit previous drawing, you might need to look at
{grid} viewports, which are designed to allow you to get back to the original
drawing context ...
> 
> 
> library(grid)
> grid.newpage()
> pushViewport(viewport(layout=grid.layout(2, 2)))
> for (i in 1:2) {
>    for (j in 1:2) {
>        pushViewport(viewport(layout.pos.row=i, layout.pos.col=j,
>                              name=paste0(i, j)))
>        grid.rect(width=.8, height=.8)
>        upViewport()
>    }
> }
> for (i in 1:2) {
>    for (j in 1:2) {
>        downViewport(paste0(i, j))
>        grid.text(paste("(", i, ",", j, ")"))
>        upViewport()
>    }
> }
> 
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
>> On 13/11/25 07:28, Naresh Gurbuxani wrote:
>> After drawing multiple figures, I want to select an earlier figure to
add some low level commands.  Using mfg parameter runs all commands in the most
recent figure only.  How can an earlier figure be selected?
>> Thanks,
>> Naresh
>> par(mfrow = c(2, 2))
>> for (i in 1:4) plot(c(0, 1), c(0, 1), type = "n?)
>> for (i in 1:2) {for (j in 1:2) text(0.5, 0.5, labels =
paste("(", i, ",", j, ")"), mfg = c(i, j, 2, 2))}
>> #All text is in bottom right figure only
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> 
> --
> Dr Paul Murrell (he/him)
> Te Kura Tatauranga | Department of Statistics
> Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland
> Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
> 64 9 3737599 x85392
> paul at stat.auckland.ac.nz
> www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/
>

R help - Nov 2025 - Jump between figures in multifigure environment

[R] Jump between figures in multifigure environment

[R] Jump between figures in multifigure environment