The R Project SVN R

\name{boxplot}
\alias{boxplot}
\alias{boxplot.default}
\alias{boxplot.formula}
\title{Box Plots}
\description{
  Produce box-and-whisker plot(s) of the given (grouped) values.
}
\usage{
boxplot(x, \dots)

\method{boxplot}{formula}(formula, data = NULL, \dots, subset)

\method{boxplot}{default}(x, \dots, range = 1.5, width = NULL, varwidth = FALSE,
        notch = FALSE, outline = TRUE, names, boxwex = 0.8, plot = TRUE,
        border = par("fg"), col = NULL, log = "", pars = NULL,
        horizontal = FALSE, add = FALSE, at = NULL)
}
\arguments{
  \item{formula}{a formula, such as \code{y ~ x}.}
  \item{data}{a data.frame (or list) from which the variables in
    \code{formula} should be taken.}
  \item{subset}{an optional vector specifying a subset of observations
    to be used for plotting.}
  \item{x}{for specifying data from which the boxplots are to be
    produced as well as for giving graphical parameters.  Additional
    unnamed  arguments specify further data, either
    as separate vectors (each corresponding to a component boxplot) or
    as a single list containing such vectors.  \code{\link{NA}}s are
    allowed in the data.}
  \item{\dots}{For the \code{formula} method, arguments to the
    default method and graphical parameters.

    For the default method, unnamed arguments are additional data
    vectors, and named arguments are graphical parameters in addition
    to the ones given by argument \code{pars}.
  }
  \item{range}{this determines how far the plot whiskers extend out
    from the box.  If \code{range} is positive, the whiskers extend
    to the most extreme data point which is no more than
    \code{range} times the interquartile range from the box. A value
    of zero causes the whiskers to extend to the data extremes.}
  \item{width}{a vector giving the relative widths of the boxes making
    up the plot.}
  \item{varwidth}{if \code{varwidth} is \code{TRUE}, the boxes are
    drawn with widths proportional to the square-roots of the number
    of observations in the groups.}
  \item{notch}{if \code{notch} is \code{TRUE}, a notch is drawn in
    each side of the boxes.  If the notches of two plots do not
    overlap then the medians are significantly different at the 5
    percent level.}
  \item{outline}{if \code{outline} is not true, the boxplot lines are
    not drawn.}% the argument name is most ugly but S+ compatible
  \item{names}{group labels which will be printed under each boxplot.}
  \item{boxwex}{a scale factor to be applied to all boxes.  When there
    are only a few groups, the appearance of the plot can be improved
    by making the boxes narrower.}
  \item{plot}{if \code{TRUE} (the default) then a boxplot is
    produced.  If not, the summaries which the boxplots are based on
    are returned.}
  \item{border}{an optional vector of colors for the outlines of the
    boxplots.  The values in \code{border} are recycled if the
    length of \code{border} is less than the number of plots.}
  \item{col}{if \code{col} is non-null it is assumed to contain colors
    to be used to col the bodies of the box plots.}
  \item{log}{character indicating if x or y or both coordinates should
    be plotted in log scale.}
  \item{pars}{a list of graphical parameters; these are passed to
    \code{\link{bxp}} (if \code{plot} is true).}
  \item{horizontal}{logical indicating if the boxplots should be
    horizontal; default \code{FALSE} means vertical boxes.}
  \item{add}{logical, if true \emph{add} boxplot to current plot.}
  \item{at}{numeric vector giving the locations where the boxplots should
    be drawn, particularly when \code{add = TRUE};
    defaults to \code{1:n} where \code{n} is the number of boxes.}
}
\details{
  The generic function \code{boxplot} currently has a default method
  (\code{boxplot.default}) and a formula interface
  (\code{\link{boxplot.formula}}).
}
\value{
  List with the following components:
  \item{stats}{a matrix, each column contains the extreme of the lower
    whisker, the lower hinge, the median, the upper hinge and the
    extreme of the upper whisker for one group/plot.}
  \item{n}{a vector with the number of observations in each group.}
  \item{conf}{a matrix where each column contains the lower and upper
    extremes of the notch.}
  \item{out}{the values of any data points which lie beyond the
    extremes of the whiskers.}
  \item{group}{a vector of the same length as \code{out} whose elements
    indicate which group the outlier belongs to}
  \item{names}{a vector of names for the groups}
}
\references{
  Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)
  \emph{The New S Language}.
  Wadsworth \& Brooks/Cole.

  See also \code{\link{boxplot.stats}}.
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{boxplot.stats}} which does the computation,
  \code{\link{bxp}} for the plotting;
  and \code{\link{stripchart}} for an alternative (with small data
  sets).
}
\examples{
## boxplot on a formula:
data(InsectSprays)
boxplot(count ~ spray, data = InsectSprays, col = "lightgray")
# *add* notches (somewhat funny here):
boxplot(count ~ spray, data = InsectSprays,
        notch = TRUE, add = TRUE, col = "blue")

data(OrchardSprays)
boxplot(decrease ~ treatment, data = OrchardSprays,
        log = "y", col="bisque")

rb <- boxplot(decrease ~ treatment, data = OrchardSprays, col="bisque")
title("Comparing boxplot()s and non-robust mean +/- SD")

mn.t <- tapply(OrchardSprays$decrease, OrchardSprays$treatment, mean)
sd.t <- tapply(OrchardSprays$decrease, OrchardSprays$treatment, sd)
xi <- 0.3 + seq(rb$n)
points(xi, mn.t, col = "orange", pch = 18)
arrows(xi, mn.t - sd.t, xi, mn.t + sd.t,
       code = 3, col = "pink", angle = 75, length = .1)

## boxplot on a matrix:
mat <- cbind(Uni05 = (1:100)/21, Norm = rnorm(100),
             T5 = rt(100, df = 5), Gam2 = rgamma(100, shape = 2))
boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = "boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = ...)")
par(las=1)# all axis labels horizontal
boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = "boxplot(*, horizontal = TRUE)",
        horizontal = TRUE)

## Using 'at = ' and adding boxplots -- example idea by Roger Bivand :

data(ToothGrowth)
boxplot(len ~ dose, data = ToothGrowth,
        boxwex = 0.25, at = 1:3 - 0.2,
        subset= supp == "VC", col="yellow",
        main="Guinea Pigs' Tooth Growth",
        xlab="Vitamin C dose mg",
        ylab="tooth length", ylim=c(0,35))
boxplot(len ~ dose, data = ToothGrowth, add = TRUE,
        boxwex = 0.25, at = 1:3 + 0.2,
        subset= supp == "OJ", col="orange")
legend(2, 9, c("Ascorbic acid", "Orange juice"),
       fill = c("yellow", "orange"))
}
\keyword{hplot}