Add Legends to Plots

Description

This function can be used to add legends to plots. Note that a call to the function locator can be used in place of the x and y arguments.

Usage

legend(x, y = NULL, legend, fill = NULL, col = "black", lty, lwd, pch,
       angle = NULL, density = NULL, bty = "o", bg = par("bg"),
       pt.bg = NA, cex = 1, pt.cex = cex, xjust = 0, yjust = 1,
       x.intersp = 1, y.intersp = 1, adj = c(0, 0.5),
       text.width = NULL, text.col = par("col"),
       merge = do.lines && has.pch, trace = FALSE,
       plot = TRUE, ncol = 1, horiz = FALSE)

Arguments

Details

Arguments x, y, legend are interpreted in a non-standard way to allow the coordinates to be specified via one or two arguments. If legend is missing and y is not numeric, it is assumed that the second argument is intended to be legend and that the first argument specifies the coordinates.

The coordinates can be specified in any way which is accepted by xy.coords. If this gives the coordinates of one point, it is used as the top-left coordinate of the rectangle containing the legend. If it gives the coordinates of two points, these specify opposite corners of the rectangle (either pair of corners, in any order).

“Attribute” arguments such as col, pch, lty, etc, are recycled if necessary. merge is not.

Points are drawn after lines in order that they can cover the line with their background color pt.bg, if applicable.

See the examples for how to right-justify labels.

Value

A list with list components

returned invisibly.

References

Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) The New S Language. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.

See Also

plot, barplot which uses legend(), and text for more examples of math expressions.

Examples

## Run the example in '?matplot' or the following:
leg.txt <- c("Setosa     Petals", "Setosa     Sepals",
             "Versicolor Petals", "Versicolor Sepals")
y.leg <- c(4.5, 3, 2.1, 1.4, .7)
cexv  <- c(1.2, 1, 4/5, 2/3, 1/2)
matplot(c(1,8), c(0,4.5), type = "n", xlab = "Length", ylab = "Width",
        main = "Petal and Sepal Dimensions in Iris Blossoms")
for (i in seq(cexv)) {
  text  (1, y.leg[i]-.1, paste("cex=",formatC(cexv[i])), cex=.8, adj = 0)
  legend(3, y.leg[i], leg.txt, pch = "sSvV", col = c(1, 3), cex = cexv[i])
}

## 'merge = TRUE' for merging lines & points:
x <- seq(-pi, pi, len = 65)
plot(x, sin(x), type = "l", ylim = c(-1.2, 1.8), col = 3, lty = 2)
points(x, cos(x), pch = 3, col = 4)
lines(x, tan(x), type = "b", lty = 1, pch = 4, col = 6)
title("legend(..., lty = c(2, -1, 1), pch = c(-1,3,4), merge = TRUE)",
      cex.main = 1.1)
legend(-1, 1.9, c("sin", "cos", "tan"), col = c(3,4,6), text.col= "green4",
       lty = c(2, -1, 1), pch = c(-1, 3, 4), merge = TRUE, bg='gray90')

## right-justifying a set of labels: thanks to Uwe Ligges
x <- 1:5; y1 <- 1/x; y2 <- 2/x
plot(rep(x, 2), c(y1, y2), type="n", xlab="x", ylab="y")
lines(x, y1); lines(x, y2, lty=2)
temp <- legend(5, 2, legend = c(" ", " "),
               text.width = strwidth("1,000,000"),
               lty = 1:2, xjust = 1, yjust = 1)
text(temp$rect$left + temp$rect$w, temp$text$y,
     c("1,000", "1,000,000"), pos=2)

##--- log scaled Examples ------------------------------
leg.txt <- c("a one", "a two")

par(mfrow = c(2,2))
for(ll in c("","x","y","xy")) {
  plot(2:10, log=ll, main=paste("log = '",ll,"'", sep=""))
  abline(1,1)
  lines(2:3,3:4, col=2) #
  points(2,2, col=3)    #
  rect(2,3,3,2, col=4)
  text(c(3,3),2:3, c("rect(2,3,3,2, col=4)",
                     "text(c(3,3),2:3,\"c(rect(...)\")"), adj = c(0,.3))
  legend(list(x=2,y=8), legend = leg.txt, col=2:3, pch=1:2,
         lty=1, merge=TRUE)#, trace=TRUE)
}
par(mfrow=c(1,1))

##-- Math expressions:  ------------------------------
x <- seq(-pi, pi, len = 65)
plot(x, sin(x), type="l", col = 2,xlab=expression(phi),ylab=expression(f(phi)))
abline(h=-1:1, v=pi/2*(-6:6), col="gray90")
lines(x, cos(x), col = 3, lty = 2)
ex.cs1 <- expression(plain(sin) * phi,  paste("cos", phi))# 2 ways
utils::str(legend(-3, .9, ex.cs1, lty=1:2, plot=FALSE, adj = c(0, .6)))# adj y !
legend(-3, .9, ex.cs1, lty=1:2, col=2:3,    adj = c(0, .6))

x <- rexp(100, rate = .5)
hist(x, main = "Mean and Median of a Skewed Distribution")
abline(v = mean(x),   col=2, lty=2, lwd=2)
abline(v = median(x), col=3, lty=3, lwd=2)
ex12 <- expression(bar(x) == sum(over(x[i], n), i==1, n),
                   hat(x) == median(x[i], i==1,n))
utils::str(legend(4.1, 30, ex12, col = 2:3, lty=2:3, lwd=2))

## 'Filled' boxes -- for more, see example(plotfactor)
op <- par(bg="white") # to get an opaque box for the legend
data(PlantGrowth)
plot(cut(weight, 3) ~ group, data = PlantGrowth, col = NULL,
     density = 16*(1:3))
par(op)

## Using 'ncol' :
x <- 0:64/64
matplot(x, outer(x, 1:7, function(x, k) sin(k * pi * x)),
        type = "o", col = 1:7, ylim = c(-1, 1.5), pch = "*")
op <- par(bg="antiquewhite1")
legend(0, 1.5, paste("sin(",1:7,"pi * x)"), col=1:7, lty=1:7, pch = "*",
       ncol = 4, cex=.8)
legend(.8,1.2, paste("sin(",1:7,"pi * x)"), col=1:7, lty=1:7, pch = "*",cex=.8)
legend(0, -.1, paste("sin(",1:4,"pi * x)"), col=1:4, lty=1:4, ncol=2, cex=.8)
legend(0, -.4, paste("sin(",5:7,"pi * x)"), col=5:7,  pch=24, ncol=2, cex=1.5,
       pt.bg= "pink", pt.cex= 1:3)
par(op)

## point covering line :
y <- sin(3*pi*x)
plot(x, y, type="l", col="blue", main = "points with bg & legend(*, pt.bg)")
points(x, y, pch=21, bg="white")
legend(.4,1, "sin(c x)", pch=21, pt.bg="white", lty=1, col = "blue")