I think you need a par(xpd=NA) before the legend command (At least it did not show up for me until I set xpd).
For positioning the overall title and legend, one option is the cnvrt.coords function in the TeachingDemos package. To center the overall title over the central column plots (the default centers it left to right in the window, but with the margins of the plots this looks a little off): after plotting one of the 3 center plots, call cnvrt.coords with an x value of 0.5 in plot coordinates (input='plt') and save the x value of the "tdev" coordinates. Then use this value as the at argument to mtext. To find the values for positioning the legend, give the function the coordinates in terms of the device (input='tdev', x can either be .5 for centered or the value computed for mtext above) and store the user coordinates to pass to legend. My modification of your example is: library(TeachingDemos) op <- par(mfrow = c(3,3), ## split region oma = c(5,0,4,0) + 0.1, ## create outer margin mar = c(5,4,2,2) + 0.1) ## shrink some margins plot(1:10, main = "a", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "b", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) tmp1 <- cnvrt.coords( 0.5, 0, input='plt' )$tdev # save location for mtext plot(1:10, main = "c", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "d", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "e", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "f", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "g", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "h", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "i", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) ## title mtext("My Plots", side = 3, outer = TRUE, font = 2, line = 1, cex = 1.2, at=tmp1$x) ## draw legend par(xpd=NA) tmp2 <- cnvrt.coords( tmp1$x, 0.05, input='tdev' )$usr # get location for legend legend(tmp2$x, tmp2$y, legend = c("Type 1", "Type 2"), pch = 1:2, col = 1:2, ncol = 2, xjust=0.5, yjust=0.5) par(op) Hope this helps, -- Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D. Statistical Data Center Intermountain Healthcare [EMAIL PROTECTED] (801) 408-8111 > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gavin Simpson > Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 11:43 AM > To: Georg Otto > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [R] legend for several graphics > > On Wed, 2008-03-05 at 15:28 +0100, Georg Otto wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I am trying to generate a figure of 9 plots that are > contained in one > > device by using > > > > par(mfrow = c(3,3,)) > > > > I would like to have 1 common legend for all 9 plots > somewhere outside > > of the plotting area (as opposed to one legend inside each of the 9 > > plots, which the function legend() seems to generate by default). > > > > Any hint how to do this? > > Here's one way: > > op <- par(mfrow = c(3,3), ## split region > oma = c(5,0,4,0) + 0.1, ## create outer margin > mar = c(5,4,2,2) + 0.1) ## shrink some margins > plot(1:10, main = "a", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = > "b", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "c", pch = 1:2, > col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "d", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) > plot(1:10, main = "e", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = > "f", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "g", pch = 1:2, > col= 1:2) plot(1:10, main = "h", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) > plot(1:10, main = "i", pch = 1:2, col= 1:2) ## title > mtext("My Plots", side = 3, outer = TRUE, font = 2, line = 1, > cex = 1.2) ## draw legend legend(-12.5, -6, legend = c("Type > 1", "Type 2"), pch = 1:2, col = 1:2, ncol = 2) > par(op) > > I had to fiddle by hand with the legend x and y locations to > get it roughly centred. There has to be better way - probably > something to do with reseting the plot region, but I can't > recall how to do that now. If there is, I'm sure someone will > tell me what I overlooked. > > Is this what you were looking for? > > G > > > > > Best, > > > > Georg > > > > ______________________________________________ > > 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. > -- > %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% > Dr. Gavin Simpson [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522 > ECRC, UCL Geography, [f] +44 (0)20 7679 0565 > Pearson Building, [e] gavin.simpsonATNOSPAMucl.ac.uk > Gower Street, London [w] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/ > UK. WC1E 6BT. [w] http://www.freshwaters.org.uk > %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% > > ______________________________________________ > 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. > ______________________________________________ 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.