gap.plot: Display a plot with one or two gaps (missing ranges) on one axis

Description

Displays a plot with one or two missing ranges on one of the axes.

Usage

gap.plot(x,y,gap,gap.axis="y",xticlab,xtics=NA,yticlab,ytics=NA,
  col=rep(par("col"),length(x)),xlim,ylim,pch=rep(1,length(x)),...)

Arguments

x,y

data values

gap

the range(s) of values to be left out

gap.axis

whether the gaps are to be on the x or y axis

xticlab

labels for the x axis ticks

xtics

position of the x axis ticks

yticlab

labels for the y axis ticks

ytics

position of the y axis ticks

col

color(s) in which to plot the values

xlim,ylim

the plot limits.

pch

symbols to use in plotting.

...

arguments passed to plot.

Value

Details

Displays a plot omitting one or two ranges of values on one axis. Typically used when there is a relatively large gap or two in the overall range of one set of values, often because of outliers. The function warns the user if any values have been omitted by being in the "gap". See axis.break for a brief discussion of plotting on discontinuous coordinates. If at least four values are passed in gap, the first four will be used to calculate two "gaps" in the plot instead of one. The function does not check whether these values are sensible, so it is quite easy to ask for a very silly plot. The default ticks are usually not ideal, and most users will want to pass their own tick positions and perhaps labels.

Examples

Run this code

twogrp<-c(rnorm(5)+4,rnorm(5)+20,rnorm(5)+5,rnorm(5)+22)
 gpcol<-c(2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,4,5,5,5,5,5)
 gap.plot(twogrp,gap=c(8,16),xlab="Index",ylab="Group values",
  main="Plot gap on Y axis",col=gpcol)
 gap.plot(twogrp,rnorm(20),gap=c(8,16),gap.axis="x",xlab="X values",
  xtics=c(4,7,17,20),ylab="Y values",main="Plot gap on X axis") 
threegrp <- c(twogrp,rnorm(10)+40)
gap.plot(threegrp,gap=c(8,16,25,35),
 xlab="X values",ylab="Y values",
 main="Test two gap plot",
 ytics=c(4,6,18,20,22,38,40),
 pch=c(rep(2,10),rep(3,10),rep(4,10)),
 col=c(rep(2,10),rep(3,10),rep(4,10)))