CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rboxplotmargins
Student228
Student228

Reputation: 339

Setting Margins in R

I'm doing a Box Plot in R, and I want to label my Y axis. The names are quite long, so I want to make the bottom margin bigger to fit them all in. I'm told that what I need to do is use the mar() function. But it seems that no matter what values I put into the function, my margins never change!

My box plot looks like this:

enter image description here

My R Script looks like this:

boxplot(
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_1)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_2)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_3)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_4)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_5)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_6)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_7)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_8)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_9)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_10)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_11)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_12)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_13)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_14)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_15)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_16)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_17)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_18)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_19)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_20)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_21)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_22)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_23)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_24)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_25)[3:21],
  as.numeric(UEC$Q1_26)[3:21],
  main="UEC Questions",
  names=c("annoying/enjoyable", "not understandable/understandable",    "creative/dull",    "easy to learn/difficult to learn", "valuable/inferior",    "boring/exciting",  "not interesting/interesting",  "unpredictable/predictable",    "fast/slow",    "inventive/conventional",   "obstructive/supportive", "good/bad",   "complicated/easy", "unlikable/pleasing",   "usual/leading edge",   "unpleasant/pleasant",  "secure/not secure",    "motivating/demotivating",  "meets expectations/does not meet expectations",    "inefficient/efficient",    "clear/confusing",  "impractical/practical",    "organized/cluttered",  "attractive/unattractive",  "friendly/unfriendly", "conservative/innovative"),
  las=2,
  mar=c(5.1, 4.1, 4.1, 2.1) 
  )

I know the values I've put in for margins are probably wrong, but they're not working anyway!

Can anyone suggest where I am going wrong?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2078

Answers (1)

RLave
RLave

Reputation: 8364

You can use par before the call to boxplot.

With cex.axis you can lower the font size of the x-axis, and with mar you can mess around with the spacing around the border.

Note the order is mar=c("bottom-side", "left-side", "upper-side", "right-side").

par(cex.axis=0.8, mar=c(8, 4, 5, 2))
boxplot(as.numeric(data$qsec),
        as.numeric(data$mpg),
        names = c("areallylongtext", "anotherreallylongtext"), las=2)

enter image description here

Please note that you shouldn't copy/paste all those as.numeric(), you should instead use a grouping variable like in my example below:

par(cex.axis=0.8, mar=c(10, 4, 5, 2))
boxplot(mpg ~ cyl, data, 
        names=c("areallylongtext", "anotherreallylongtext", "yetanotherreallylongtext"), las=2)

enter image description here

Upvotes: 2

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