You could have a look at the ggplot2 package to make such plots. The code for the plots is more readable than with base plots.
a = c(1:10) # create a vector of integers b = rep(c("a","b"),5) # create a vector of chars, used # as factor-levels d = rnorm(10) # some random numbers e = data.frame(a,b,d) library(ggplot2) ggplot(e, aes(x = a, y = d, colour = b, shape = b)) + geom_point() a = c("a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j") e = data.frame(a,b,d) # re-build data.frame ggplot(e, aes(x = a, y = d, colour = b, shape = b)) + geom_point() HTH, Thierry ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ir. Thierry Onkelinx Instituut voor natuur- en bosonderzoek team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg Gaverstraat 4 9500 Geraardsbergen Belgium Research Institute for Nature and Forest team Biometrics & Quality Assurance Gaverstraat 4 9500 Geraardsbergen Belgium tel. + 32 54/436 185 thierry.onkel...@inbo.be www.inbo.be To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be able to say what the experiment died of. ~ Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher The plural of anecdote is not data. ~ Roger Brinner The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data. ~ John Tukey > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: r-help-boun...@r-project.org > [mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org] Namens Steffen Uhlig > Verzonden: maandag 26 juli 2010 13:39 > Aan: r-help@r-project.org > Onderwerp: [R] Plot of a subset of a data.frame() > > Hello, > > my data.frame is sort of a collection of process values, i.e. > huge run-chart. It consists of a time-stamp in the first > column (date as string), factors in the following columns > (used for subset-filtering), and some process-data columns. > Hereafter, two examples are listed, showing the problems that > occour during print: > > At first the example, that works fine: > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > a = c(1:10) # create a vector of integers > b = rep(c("a","b"),5) # create a vector of chars, used > # as factor-levels > d = rnorm(10) # some random numbers > e = data.frame(a,b,d) # connect to a data.frame > > e.1 = subset(e, b=="a") # create two subsets > e.2 = subset(e, b=="b") > plot(d~a, e.1, pch=3, col=2) # plot first data-subset > points(d~a, e.2, pch=4, col=3) # plot the 2nd one > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > all looks fine in theses plots. > > > However, changing the content of vector "a" to a set of > strings the following happens: > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > a = c("a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j") > e = data.frame(a,b,d) # re-build data.frame > > e.1 = subset(e, b=="a") # create two subsets > e.2 = subset(e, b=="b") > plot(d~a, e.1, pch=3, col=2) > points(d~a, e.2, pch=4, col=3) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > The plot-command produces horizontal lines instead of dots. > This seems to happen when the x-axis contains strings rather > than numbers. is there a way out? > > Best regards, > /Steffen > -- > Steffen Uhlig, PhD > Mechatronik und Sensortechnik > HTW des Saarlandes > Goebenstraße 40 > 66117 Saarbrücken > > Tel.: +49 (0) 681 58 67 274 > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > Druk dit bericht a.u.b. niet onnodig af. Please do not print this message unnecessarily. Dit bericht en eventuele bijlagen geven enkel de visie van de schrijver weer en binden het INBO onder geen enkel beding, zolang dit bericht niet bevestigd is door een geldig ondertekend document. The views expressed in this message and any annex are purely those of the writer and may not be regarded as stating an official position of INBO, as long as the message is not confirmed by a duly signed document. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.