R: Specifying Complex Plot Arrangements

layout {graphics} | R Documentation

## Specifying Complex Plot Arrangements

### Description

`layout` divides the device up into as many rows and columns as there are in matrix `mat`, with the column-widths and the row-heights specified in the respective arguments.

### Usage

    layout(mat, widths = rep.int(1, ncol(mat)),
           heights = rep.int(1, nrow(mat)), respect = FALSE)

    layout.show(n = 1)
    lcm(x)

### Arguments

`mat` | a matrix object specifying the location of the next N figures on the output device. Each value in the matrix must be `0` or a positive integer. If N is the largest positive integer in the matrix, then the integers {1, …, N-1} must also appear at least once in the matrix.
`widths` | a vector of values for the widths of columns on the device. Relative widths are specified with numeric values. Absolute widths (in centimetres) are specified with the `lcm()` function (see examples).
`heights` | a vector of values for the heights of rows on the device. Relative and absolute heights can be specified, see `widths` above.
`respect` | either a logical value or a matrix object. If the latter, then it must have the same dimensions as `mat` and each value in the matrix must be either `0` or `1`.
`n` | number of figures to plot.
`x` | a dimension to be interpreted as a number of centimetres.

### Details

Figure i is allocated a region composed from a subset of these rows and columns, based on the rows and columns in which i occurs in `mat`.

The `respect` argument controls whether a unit column-width is the same physical measurement on the device as a unit row-height.

There is a limit (currently 200) for the numbers of rows and columns in the layout, and also for the total number of cells (10007).

`layout.show(n)` plots (part of) the current layout, namely the outlines of the next `n` figures.

`lcm` is a trivial function, to be used as the interface for specifying absolute dimensions for the `widths` and `heights` arguments of `layout()`.

### Value

`layout` returns the number of figures, N, see above.

### Warnings

These functions are totally incompatible with the other mechanisms for arranging plots on a device: `par(mfrow)`, `par(mfcol)` and `split.screen`.

### Author(s)

Paul R. Murrell

### References

Murrell, P. R. (1999). Layouts: A mechanism for arranging plots on a page. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 8, 121–134. doi: 10.2307/1390924.

Chapter 5 of Paul Murrell's Ph.D. thesis.

Murrell, P. (2005). R Graphics. Chapman & Hall/CRC Press.

### See Also

`par` with arguments `mfrow`, `mfcol`, or `mfg`.

### Examples

    def.par <- par(no.readonly = TRUE) # save default, for resetting...

    ## divide the device into two rows and two columns
    ## allocate figure 1 all of row 1
    ## allocate figure 2 the intersection of column 2 and row 2
    layout(matrix(c(1,1,0,2), 2, 2, byrow = TRUE))
    ## show the regions that have been allocated to each plot
    layout.show(2)

    ## divide device into two rows and two columns
    ## allocate figure 1 and figure 2 as above
    ## respect relations between widths and heights
    nf <- layout(matrix(c(1,1,0,2), 2, 2, byrow = TRUE), respect = TRUE)
    layout.show(nf)

    ## create single figure which is 5cm square
    nf <- layout(matrix(1), widths = lcm(5), heights = lcm(5))
    layout.show(nf)

    ##-- Create a scatterplot with marginal histograms -----

    x <- pmin(3, pmax(-3, stats::rnorm(50)))
    y <- pmin(3, pmax(-3, stats::rnorm(50)))
    xhist <- hist(x, breaks = seq(-3,3,0.5), plot = FALSE)
    yhist <- hist(y, breaks = seq(-3,3,0.5), plot = FALSE)
    top <- max(c(xhist$counts, yhist$counts))
    xrange <- c(-3, 3)
    yrange <- c(-3, 3)
    nf <- layout(matrix(c(2,0,1,3),2,2,byrow = TRUE), c(3,1), c(1,3), TRUE)
    layout.show(nf)

    par(mar = c(3,3,1,1))
    plot(x, y, xlim = xrange, ylim = yrange, xlab = "", ylab = "")
    par(mar = c(0,3,1,1))
    barplot(xhist$counts, axes = FALSE, ylim = c(0, top), space = 0)
    par(mar = c(3,0,1,1))
    barplot(yhist$counts, axes = FALSE, xlim = c(0, top), space = 0, horiz = TRUE)

    par(def.par)  #- reset to default

[Package graphics version 3.5.1 Index]