The R Project SVN R

\name{screen}
\title{Creating and Controlling Multiple Screens on a Single Device}
\usage{
split.screen(figs, screen = <<see below>>, erase = TRUE)
screen(n = <<see below>>, new = TRUE)
erase.screen(n = <<see below>>)
close.screen(n = <<see below>>, all.screens = TRUE)
}
\alias{screen}
\alias{split.screen}
\alias{erase.screen}
\alias{close.screen}
\arguments{
  \item{figs}{A two-element vector describing the number of rows and the
    number of columns in a screen matrix \emph{or} a matrix with 4 columns.
    If a matrix, then each row describes a screen with values for the left,
    right, bottom, and top of the screen (in that order) in NDC units.}
  \item{n}{A number indicating which screen to prepare for drawing
    (\code{screen}), erase (\code{erase.screen}), or close
    (\code{close.screen}).}
  \item{new}{A logical value indicating whether the screen should be
    erased as part of the preparation for drawing in the screen.}
  \item{all.screens}{A logical value indicating whether all of the
    screens should be closed.}
}
\description{
  \code{split.screen} defines a number of regions within the current
  device which can, to some extent, be treated as separate graphics
  devices.  It is useful for generating multiple plots on a single
  device.  Screens can themselves be split, allowing for quite complex
  arrangements of plots.

  \code{screen} is used to select which screen to draw in.

  \code{erase.screen} is used to clear a single screen.

  \code{close.screen} removes the specified screen definition(s).
}
\details{
  The first call to \code{split.screen} places \R into split-screen
  mode.  The other split-screen functions only work within this mode.
  While in this mode, certain other commands should be avoided (see WARNINGS
  below).  Split-screen mode is exited by the command 
  \code{close.screen(all = TRUE)}
}
\value{
  \code{split.screen} returns a vector of screen numbers for the
  newly-created screens.  With no arguments, \code{split.screen} returns
  a vector of valid screen numbers.

  \code{screen} invisibly returns the number of the selected screen.
  With no arguments, \code{screen} returns the number of the current
  screen.

  \code{close.screen} returns a vector of valid screen numbers.

  \code{screen}, \code{erase.screen}, and \code{close.screen} all return
  \code{FALSE} if \R is not in split-screen mode.
}

\section{Warning}{
  These functions are totally incompatible with the
  other mechanisms for arranging plots on a device:  \code{par(mfrow)},
  \code{par(mfcol)}, and \code{layout()}.  

  The functions are also incompatible with some plotting functions, 
  such as \code{coplot}, which make use of these other mechanisms.

  The functions should not be used with multiple devices.
}

\seealso{
  \code{\link{par}}, \code{\link{layout}}, \code{\link{Devices}},
  \code{dev.*}
}

\examples{
if (interactive()) {
split.screen(c(2,1))             # split display into two screens
split.screen(c(1,3), screen = 2) # now split the bottom half into 3
screen(1) # prepare screen 1 for output
plot(10:1)
screen(4) # prepare screen 4 for output
plot(10:1)
close.screen(all = TRUE) # exit split-screen mode

split.screen(c(2,1))        # split display into two screens
split.screen(c(1,2),2)      # split bottom half in two
plot(1:10)                  # screen 3 is active, draw plot
erase.screen()              #forgot label, erase and redraw
plot(1:10, ylab= "ylab 3")
screen(1)                 # prepare screen 1 for output
plot(1:10)
screen(4)                 # prepare screen 4 for output
plot(1:10, ylab="ylab 4")
screen(1, FALSE)              #return to screen 1, but do not clear
plot(10:1, axes=F, lty=2, ylab="")  # overlay second plot
axis(4)                   # add tic marks to right-hand axis
title("Plot 1")
close.screen(all = TRUE) # exit split-screen mode
}
}
\keyword{aplot}
\keyword{dplot}
\keyword{device}