Making an R histogram plot from a saved hist() call - r

In R, one can do
x <- rnorm(100, 0, 1) # generate some fake data
hgram <- hist(x, plot=F)
plot(hgram$mids, hgram$counts)
One can further specify a plot type, such as 'h' or 's'. However, these don't really come out looking like a proper histogram. How can one make a nice looking histogram this way?

Thought to add my inputs about making decent looking histograms in R (using your "x" from your question).
Using Base R
# histogram with colors and labels
hist(x, main = "Histogram of Fake Data", xlab = paste("x (units of measure)"), border = "blue", col = "green", prob = TRUE)
# add density
lines(density(x))
# add red line at 95th percentile
abline(v = quantile(x, .95), col = "red")
Using Plotly
install.packages("plotly")
library(plotly)
# basic Plotly histogram
plot_ly(x = x, type = "histogram")
The plotly result should open in a browser window with a variety of interactive controls. More plotly capabilities are available on their website at:
https://plot.ly/r/histograms/#normalized-histogram

Related

How to partly colorize histogram?

I've been trying to color specific bins above a defined threshold in the following data frame (df)
df <- read.table("https://pastebin.com/raw/3En2GWG6", header=T)
I've been following this example (Change colour of specific histogram bins in R), but I cannot seem to get this to adapt their suggestions to my data, so I wanted to ask you here at stackoverflow
I would like all bins with values above 0.100 to be "red", and the rest all to be either no color, or just black (I defined black, but I would prefer no color)
Here is what I tried:
col<-(df$consumption>=0.100)
table(col) # I can see 40 points above 100, the rest below
col[which(col=="TRUE")] <- "firebrick1"
col[which(col=="FALSE")] <- "black"
hist(df$consumption, breaks = 1000, xlim = c(0,0.2), col=col,xlab= "Consumption [MG]")
However, the whole graph is red, and that doesn't make sense..?
In other words, I would like anything to the right side of the line below to be red
hist(df$consumption, breaks = 1000, xlim = c(0,0.2),xlab= "Consumption [MG]")
abline(v=c(.100), col=c("red"),lty=c(1), lwd=c(5))
Simply plot two histograms on top of each other using add=TRUE and sub-setting the second.
hist(df$consumption, breaks=1000, xlim=c(0,.2),xlab= "Consumption [MG]")
hist(df$consumption[df$consumption > .100], breaks=1000, xlim=c(0,.2), col=2, add=TRUE)
abline(v=.100, col=2, lty=3)
Here is along the lines of what you were doing. You do not want to count the points above your cutoff, but rather the number of histogram bins above your cutoff.
# store the histogram as an object
h <- hist(df$consumption, breaks = 1000)
# extract out the breaks, and assign a color vector accordingly
cols <- ifelse(h$breaks > 0.1, "firebrick1", "black")
# use the color vector
plot(h, col = cols, xlim=c(0,.2),xlab= "Consumption [MG]")
abline(v=c(.100), col=c("red"),lty=c(1), lwd=c(5))

Plotting in R using plot function

I am trying to plot few graphs using loops. I am now describing in details.
First I have a function which is calculates the y-variable (called effect for vertical axis)
effect<- function (x, y){
exp(-0.35*log(x)
+0.17*log(y)
-0.36*sqrt(log(x)*log(y)/100))
}
Now I run the following code and use the option par to plot the lines in the same graph. I use axis=FALSE and xlab="" to get a plot without labels. I do this so that my labels are not re-written each time the loop runs and looks ugly.
for (levels in seq(exp(8), exp(10), length.out = 5)){
x = seq(exp(1),exp(10), length.out = 20)
prc= effect(levels,x)
plot(x, prc,xlim = c(0,max(x)*1.05), ylim=c(0.0,0.3),
type="o", xlab = "",ylab = "", pch = 16,
col = "dark blue", lwd = 2, cex = 1, axes = F)
label = as.integer(levels) #x variable
text(max(x)*1.03,max(prc), label )
par(new=TRUE)
}
Finally, I duplicate the plot command this time using the xlab and ylab options
plot(x, prc, xlab = "X-label", ylab = "effect",
xlim = c(0,max(x)*1.05), ylim = c(0,0.3),
type="l", col ='blue')
I have several other plots in the similar lines, using complex equations. I have two questions:
Is there an better option to have the same plot with smoother lines?
Is there an easier option with few lines to achieve the same, where I can place the texts (levels) for each line on the right with white background at the back?
I believe working with the plot function was tedious and time consuming. So, I have finally used ggplot2 to plot. There were several help available online, which I have used.

Histogram to decide whether two distributions have the same shape in R [duplicate]

I am using R and I have two data frames: carrots and cucumbers. Each data frame has a single numeric column that lists the length of all measured carrots (total: 100k carrots) and cucumbers (total: 50k cucumbers).
I wish to plot two histograms - carrot length and cucumbers lengths - on the same plot. They overlap, so I guess I also need some transparency. I also need to use relative frequencies not absolute numbers since the number of instances in each group is different.
Something like this would be nice but I don't understand how to create it from my two tables:
Here is an even simpler solution using base graphics and alpha-blending (which does not work on all graphics devices):
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4)) # centered at 4
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6)) # centered at 6
plot( p1, col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10)) # first histogram
plot( p2, col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add=T) # second
The key is that the colours are semi-transparent.
Edit, more than two years later: As this just got an upvote, I figure I may as well add a visual of what the code produces as alpha-blending is so darn useful:
That image you linked to was for density curves, not histograms.
If you've been reading on ggplot then maybe the only thing you're missing is combining your two data frames into one long one.
So, let's start with something like what you have, two separate sets of data and combine them.
carrots <- data.frame(length = rnorm(100000, 6, 2))
cukes <- data.frame(length = rnorm(50000, 7, 2.5))
# Now, combine your two dataframes into one.
# First make a new column in each that will be
# a variable to identify where they came from later.
carrots$veg <- 'carrot'
cukes$veg <- 'cuke'
# and combine into your new data frame vegLengths
vegLengths <- rbind(carrots, cukes)
After that, which is unnecessary if your data is in long format already, you only need one line to make your plot.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) + geom_density(alpha = 0.2)
Now, if you really did want histograms the following will work. Note that you must change position from the default "stack" argument. You might miss that if you don't really have an idea of what your data should look like. A higher alpha looks better there. Also note that I made it density histograms. It's easy to remove the y = ..density.. to get it back to counts.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) +
geom_histogram(alpha = 0.5, aes(y = ..density..), position = 'identity')
On additional thing, I commented on Dirk's question that all of the arguments could simply be in the hist command. I was asked how that could be done. What follows produces exactly Dirk's figure.
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4), col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10))
hist(rnorm(500,6), col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add = TRUE)
Here's a function I wrote that uses pseudo-transparency to represent overlapping histograms
plotOverlappingHist <- function(a, b, colors=c("white","gray20","gray50"),
breaks=NULL, xlim=NULL, ylim=NULL){
ahist=NULL
bhist=NULL
if(!(is.null(breaks))){
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
} else {
ahist=hist(a,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,plot=F)
dist = ahist$breaks[2]-ahist$breaks[1]
breaks = seq(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),dist)
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
}
if(is.null(xlim)){
xlim = c(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks))
}
if(is.null(ylim)){
ylim = c(0,max(ahist$counts,bhist$counts))
}
overlap = ahist
for(i in 1:length(overlap$counts)){
if(ahist$counts[i] > 0 & bhist$counts[i] > 0){
overlap$counts[i] = min(ahist$counts[i],bhist$counts[i])
} else {
overlap$counts[i] = 0
}
}
plot(ahist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[1])
plot(bhist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[2], add=T)
plot(overlap, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[3], add=T)
}
Here's another way to do it using R's support for transparent colors
a=rnorm(1000, 3, 1)
b=rnorm(1000, 6, 1)
hist(a, xlim=c(0,10), col="red")
hist(b, add=T, col=rgb(0, 1, 0, 0.5) )
The results end up looking something like this:
Already beautiful answers are there, but I thought of adding this. Looks good to me.
(Copied random numbers from #Dirk). library(scales) is needed`
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4),xlim=c(0,10),col='skyblue',border=F)
hist(rnorm(500,6),add=T,col=scales::alpha('red',.5),border=F)
The result is...
Update: This overlapping function may also be useful to some.
hist0 <- function(...,col='skyblue',border=T) hist(...,col=col,border=border)
I feel result from hist0 is prettier to look than hist
hist2 <- function(var1, var2,name1='',name2='',
breaks = min(max(length(var1), length(var2)),20),
main0 = "", alpha0 = 0.5,grey=0,border=F,...) {
library(scales)
colh <- c(rgb(0, 1, 0, alpha0), rgb(1, 0, 0, alpha0))
if(grey) colh <- c(alpha(grey(0.1,alpha0)), alpha(grey(0.9,alpha0)))
max0 = max(var1, var2)
min0 = min(var1, var2)
den1_max <- hist(var1, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den2_max <- hist(var2, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den_max <- max(den2_max, den1_max)*1.2
var1 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0) , breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[1], ylim = c(0, den_max), main = main0,border=border,...)
var2 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0), breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[2], ylim = c(0, den_max), add = T,border=border,...)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c('white','white', colh[1]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c(colh, colh[2]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3) }
The result of
par(mar=c(3, 4, 3, 2) + 0.1)
set.seed(100)
hist2(rnorm(10000,2),rnorm(10000,3),breaks = 50)
is
Here is an example of how you can do it in "classic" R graphics:
## generate some random data
carrotLengths <- rnorm(1000,15,5)
cucumberLengths <- rnorm(200,20,7)
## calculate the histograms - don't plot yet
histCarrot <- hist(carrotLengths,plot = FALSE)
histCucumber <- hist(cucumberLengths,plot = FALSE)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(histCucumber$breaks,histCarrot$breaks)
ylim <- range(0,histCucumber$density,
histCarrot$density)
## plot the first graph
plot(histCarrot,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
col = rgb(1,0,0,0.4),xlab = 'Lengths',
freq = FALSE, ## relative, not absolute frequency
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers')
## plot the second graph on top of this
opar <- par(new = FALSE)
plot(histCucumber,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
xaxt = 'n', yaxt = 'n', ## don't add axes
col = rgb(0,0,1,0.4), add = TRUE,
freq = FALSE) ## relative, not absolute frequency
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = rgb(1:0,0,0:1,0.4), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
par(opar)
The only issue with this is that it looks much better if the histogram breaks are aligned, which may have to be done manually (in the arguments passed to hist).
Here's the version like the ggplot2 one I gave only in base R. I copied some from #nullglob.
generate the data
carrots <- rnorm(100000,5,2)
cukes <- rnorm(50000,7,2.5)
You don't need to put it into a data frame like with ggplot2. The drawback of this method is that you have to write out a lot more of the details of the plot. The advantage is that you have control over more details of the plot.
## calculate the density - don't plot yet
densCarrot <- density(carrots)
densCuke <- density(cukes)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(densCuke$x,densCarrot$x)
ylim <- range(0,densCuke$y, densCarrot$y)
#pick the colours
carrotCol <- rgb(1,0,0,0.2)
cukeCol <- rgb(0,0,1,0.2)
## plot the carrots and set up most of the plot parameters
plot(densCarrot, xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim, xlab = 'Lengths',
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers',
panel.first = grid())
#put our density plots in
polygon(densCarrot, density = -1, col = carrotCol)
polygon(densCuke, density = -1, col = cukeCol)
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = c(carrotCol, cukeCol), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
#Dirk Eddelbuettel: The basic idea is excellent but the code as shown can be improved. [Takes long to explain, hence a separate answer and not a comment.]
The hist() function by default draws plots, so you need to add the plot=FALSE option. Moreover, it is clearer to establish the plot area by a plot(0,0,type="n",...) call in which you can add the axis labels, plot title etc. Finally, I would like to mention that one could also use shading to distinguish between the two histograms. Here is the code:
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4),plot=FALSE)
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6),plot=FALSE)
plot(0,0,type="n",xlim=c(0,10),ylim=c(0,100),xlab="x",ylab="freq",main="Two histograms")
plot(p1,col="green",density=10,angle=135,add=TRUE)
plot(p2,col="blue",density=10,angle=45,add=TRUE)
And here is the result (a bit too wide because of RStudio :-) ):
Plotly's R API might be useful for you. The graph below is here.
library(plotly)
#add username and key
p <- plotly(username="Username", key="API_KEY")
#generate data
x0 = rnorm(500)
x1 = rnorm(500)+1
#arrange your graph
data0 = list(x=x0,
name = "Carrots",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
data1 = list(x=x1,
name = "Cukes",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
#specify type as 'overlay'
layout <- list(barmode='overlay',
plot_bgcolor = 'rgba(249,249,251,.85)')
#format response, and use 'browseURL' to open graph tab in your browser.
response = p$plotly(data0, data1, kwargs=list(layout=layout))
url = response$url
filename = response$filename
browseURL(response$url)
Full disclosure: I'm on the team.
So many great answers but since I've just written a function (plotMultipleHistograms() in 'basicPlotteR' package) function to do this, I thought I would add another answer.
The advantage of this function is that it automatically sets appropriate X and Y axis limits and defines a common set of bins that it uses across all the distributions.
Here's how to use it:
# Install the plotteR package
install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("JosephCrispell/basicPlotteR")
library(basicPlotteR)
# Set the seed
set.seed(254534)
# Create random samples from a normal distribution
distributions <- list(rnorm(500, mean=5, sd=0.5),
rnorm(500, mean=8, sd=5),
rnorm(500, mean=20, sd=2))
# Plot overlapping histograms
plotMultipleHistograms(distributions, nBins=20,
colours=c(rgb(1,0,0, 0.5), rgb(0,0,1, 0.5), rgb(0,1,0, 0.5)),
las=1, main="Samples from normal distribution", xlab="Value")
The plotMultipleHistograms() function can take any number of distributions, and all the general plotting parameters should work with it (for example: las, main, etc.).

R barchart, not barplot, remove yaxis ticks

I am trying to remove the y-axis ticks from a barchart.
google immediately corrects barchart to barplot, and is not helpful at all.
yaxt="n" is not working with barchart...
Anyone have an idea how to remove the yaxis ticks in barcharts in R?
I need barchart because this is the only way I could find that works for me to group my data in the way I want it...
An MWE is here:
library(lattice)
molnames<-c("A","B","D","G","C","F")
contactcounts<-c(1,2,3, 6,12,18,4,8,16,10,20,30,2,4,8,3,6,9)
Acolumn1=factor(rep(molnames, each=3), levels=molnames )
Acolumn2=rep(c("test1","test2","test3"), 6)
Acolumn3=contactcounts
colour<-c("orange", "blue","magenta")
tiff(file="./testingABC.tiff", res=1000, width = 8, height = 8,units='in')
trellis.par.set("grid.pars"=list(fontfamily="serif"))
barchart(Acolumn3 ~ Acolumn1,ylab="y axis", yaxt="n", groups=Acolumn2, auto.key = list(columns = 3), par.settings=list(superpose.polygon=list(col=colour)))
Please note that you're using a function from lattice package, not from base package and it has different parameters.
To accomplish what you want, you should set scales parameter (see ?barchart documentation); there are two options giving a slighlty different result :
# option 1: we're saying that y ticks must be set at coordinate = NULL
barchart(Acolumn3 ~ Acolumn1,ylab="y axis", groups=Acolumn2, auto.key = list(columns = 3),
scales=list(y=list(at=NULL)),
par.settings=list(superpose.polygon=list(col=colour)))
# option 2: we're saying not to draw y axis
barchart(Acolumn3 ~ Acolumn1,ylab="y axis", groups=Acolumn2, auto.key = list(columns = 3),
scales=list(y=list(draw=FALSE)),
par.settings=list(superpose.polygon=list(col=colour)))
Here's an example how to do a barplot using base R:
# Acolumn1,Acolumn2,Acolumn3 have been created in your example
DF <- data.frame(Acolumn1,Acolumn2,Acolumn3)
###### build matrix to be passed to barplot using R base
reshaped <- reshape(DF, idvar="Acolumn1",timevar="Acolumn2", direction = "wide",sep='_')
names(reshaped) <- gsub('Acolumn3_','',names(reshaped))
reshapedMx <- as.matrix(reshaped[,-1])
rownames(reshapedMx) <- reshaped[,1]
reshapedMx <- t(reshapedMx)
###### build matrix to be passed to barplot using reshape2 package (less code)
# library(reshape2)
# reshapedMx <- acast(DF, Acolumn1 ~ Acolumn2, value.var='Acolumn3')
# reshapedMx <- t(reshapedMx)
colors <- rainbow(nrow(reshapedMx))
barplot(reshapedMx,beside = TRUE,col=colors,ylim=c(0,max(reshapedMx)*1.2), yaxt='n')
legend('top',fill=colors,legend=rownames(reshapedMx), horiz=TRUE)
# call box() if you want to add a box around the plot

r program grouping 3 histograms into one grouped histogram [duplicate]

I am using R and I have two data frames: carrots and cucumbers. Each data frame has a single numeric column that lists the length of all measured carrots (total: 100k carrots) and cucumbers (total: 50k cucumbers).
I wish to plot two histograms - carrot length and cucumbers lengths - on the same plot. They overlap, so I guess I also need some transparency. I also need to use relative frequencies not absolute numbers since the number of instances in each group is different.
Something like this would be nice but I don't understand how to create it from my two tables:
Here is an even simpler solution using base graphics and alpha-blending (which does not work on all graphics devices):
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4)) # centered at 4
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6)) # centered at 6
plot( p1, col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10)) # first histogram
plot( p2, col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add=T) # second
The key is that the colours are semi-transparent.
Edit, more than two years later: As this just got an upvote, I figure I may as well add a visual of what the code produces as alpha-blending is so darn useful:
That image you linked to was for density curves, not histograms.
If you've been reading on ggplot then maybe the only thing you're missing is combining your two data frames into one long one.
So, let's start with something like what you have, two separate sets of data and combine them.
carrots <- data.frame(length = rnorm(100000, 6, 2))
cukes <- data.frame(length = rnorm(50000, 7, 2.5))
# Now, combine your two dataframes into one.
# First make a new column in each that will be
# a variable to identify where they came from later.
carrots$veg <- 'carrot'
cukes$veg <- 'cuke'
# and combine into your new data frame vegLengths
vegLengths <- rbind(carrots, cukes)
After that, which is unnecessary if your data is in long format already, you only need one line to make your plot.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) + geom_density(alpha = 0.2)
Now, if you really did want histograms the following will work. Note that you must change position from the default "stack" argument. You might miss that if you don't really have an idea of what your data should look like. A higher alpha looks better there. Also note that I made it density histograms. It's easy to remove the y = ..density.. to get it back to counts.
ggplot(vegLengths, aes(length, fill = veg)) +
geom_histogram(alpha = 0.5, aes(y = ..density..), position = 'identity')
On additional thing, I commented on Dirk's question that all of the arguments could simply be in the hist command. I was asked how that could be done. What follows produces exactly Dirk's figure.
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4), col=rgb(0,0,1,1/4), xlim=c(0,10))
hist(rnorm(500,6), col=rgb(1,0,0,1/4), xlim=c(0,10), add = TRUE)
Here's a function I wrote that uses pseudo-transparency to represent overlapping histograms
plotOverlappingHist <- function(a, b, colors=c("white","gray20","gray50"),
breaks=NULL, xlim=NULL, ylim=NULL){
ahist=NULL
bhist=NULL
if(!(is.null(breaks))){
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
} else {
ahist=hist(a,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,plot=F)
dist = ahist$breaks[2]-ahist$breaks[1]
breaks = seq(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),dist)
ahist=hist(a,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
bhist=hist(b,breaks=breaks,plot=F)
}
if(is.null(xlim)){
xlim = c(min(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks),max(ahist$breaks,bhist$breaks))
}
if(is.null(ylim)){
ylim = c(0,max(ahist$counts,bhist$counts))
}
overlap = ahist
for(i in 1:length(overlap$counts)){
if(ahist$counts[i] > 0 & bhist$counts[i] > 0){
overlap$counts[i] = min(ahist$counts[i],bhist$counts[i])
} else {
overlap$counts[i] = 0
}
}
plot(ahist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[1])
plot(bhist, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[2], add=T)
plot(overlap, xlim=xlim, ylim=ylim, col=colors[3], add=T)
}
Here's another way to do it using R's support for transparent colors
a=rnorm(1000, 3, 1)
b=rnorm(1000, 6, 1)
hist(a, xlim=c(0,10), col="red")
hist(b, add=T, col=rgb(0, 1, 0, 0.5) )
The results end up looking something like this:
Already beautiful answers are there, but I thought of adding this. Looks good to me.
(Copied random numbers from #Dirk). library(scales) is needed`
set.seed(42)
hist(rnorm(500,4),xlim=c(0,10),col='skyblue',border=F)
hist(rnorm(500,6),add=T,col=scales::alpha('red',.5),border=F)
The result is...
Update: This overlapping function may also be useful to some.
hist0 <- function(...,col='skyblue',border=T) hist(...,col=col,border=border)
I feel result from hist0 is prettier to look than hist
hist2 <- function(var1, var2,name1='',name2='',
breaks = min(max(length(var1), length(var2)),20),
main0 = "", alpha0 = 0.5,grey=0,border=F,...) {
library(scales)
colh <- c(rgb(0, 1, 0, alpha0), rgb(1, 0, 0, alpha0))
if(grey) colh <- c(alpha(grey(0.1,alpha0)), alpha(grey(0.9,alpha0)))
max0 = max(var1, var2)
min0 = min(var1, var2)
den1_max <- hist(var1, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den2_max <- hist(var2, breaks = breaks, plot = F)$density %>% max
den_max <- max(den2_max, den1_max)*1.2
var1 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0) , breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[1], ylim = c(0, den_max), main = main0,border=border,...)
var2 %>% hist0(xlim = c(min0 , max0), breaks = breaks,
freq = F, col = colh[2], ylim = c(0, den_max), add = T,border=border,...)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c('white','white', colh[1]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3)
legend(min0,den_max, legend = c(
ifelse(nchar(name1)==0,substitute(var1) %>% deparse,name1),
ifelse(nchar(name2)==0,substitute(var2) %>% deparse,name2),
"Overlap"), fill = c(colh, colh[2]), bty = "n", cex=1,ncol=3) }
The result of
par(mar=c(3, 4, 3, 2) + 0.1)
set.seed(100)
hist2(rnorm(10000,2),rnorm(10000,3),breaks = 50)
is
Here is an example of how you can do it in "classic" R graphics:
## generate some random data
carrotLengths <- rnorm(1000,15,5)
cucumberLengths <- rnorm(200,20,7)
## calculate the histograms - don't plot yet
histCarrot <- hist(carrotLengths,plot = FALSE)
histCucumber <- hist(cucumberLengths,plot = FALSE)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(histCucumber$breaks,histCarrot$breaks)
ylim <- range(0,histCucumber$density,
histCarrot$density)
## plot the first graph
plot(histCarrot,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
col = rgb(1,0,0,0.4),xlab = 'Lengths',
freq = FALSE, ## relative, not absolute frequency
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers')
## plot the second graph on top of this
opar <- par(new = FALSE)
plot(histCucumber,xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim,
xaxt = 'n', yaxt = 'n', ## don't add axes
col = rgb(0,0,1,0.4), add = TRUE,
freq = FALSE) ## relative, not absolute frequency
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = rgb(1:0,0,0:1,0.4), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
par(opar)
The only issue with this is that it looks much better if the histogram breaks are aligned, which may have to be done manually (in the arguments passed to hist).
Here's the version like the ggplot2 one I gave only in base R. I copied some from #nullglob.
generate the data
carrots <- rnorm(100000,5,2)
cukes <- rnorm(50000,7,2.5)
You don't need to put it into a data frame like with ggplot2. The drawback of this method is that you have to write out a lot more of the details of the plot. The advantage is that you have control over more details of the plot.
## calculate the density - don't plot yet
densCarrot <- density(carrots)
densCuke <- density(cukes)
## calculate the range of the graph
xlim <- range(densCuke$x,densCarrot$x)
ylim <- range(0,densCuke$y, densCarrot$y)
#pick the colours
carrotCol <- rgb(1,0,0,0.2)
cukeCol <- rgb(0,0,1,0.2)
## plot the carrots and set up most of the plot parameters
plot(densCarrot, xlim = xlim, ylim = ylim, xlab = 'Lengths',
main = 'Distribution of carrots and cucumbers',
panel.first = grid())
#put our density plots in
polygon(densCarrot, density = -1, col = carrotCol)
polygon(densCuke, density = -1, col = cukeCol)
## add a legend in the corner
legend('topleft',c('Carrots','Cucumbers'),
fill = c(carrotCol, cukeCol), bty = 'n',
border = NA)
#Dirk Eddelbuettel: The basic idea is excellent but the code as shown can be improved. [Takes long to explain, hence a separate answer and not a comment.]
The hist() function by default draws plots, so you need to add the plot=FALSE option. Moreover, it is clearer to establish the plot area by a plot(0,0,type="n",...) call in which you can add the axis labels, plot title etc. Finally, I would like to mention that one could also use shading to distinguish between the two histograms. Here is the code:
set.seed(42)
p1 <- hist(rnorm(500,4),plot=FALSE)
p2 <- hist(rnorm(500,6),plot=FALSE)
plot(0,0,type="n",xlim=c(0,10),ylim=c(0,100),xlab="x",ylab="freq",main="Two histograms")
plot(p1,col="green",density=10,angle=135,add=TRUE)
plot(p2,col="blue",density=10,angle=45,add=TRUE)
And here is the result (a bit too wide because of RStudio :-) ):
Plotly's R API might be useful for you. The graph below is here.
library(plotly)
#add username and key
p <- plotly(username="Username", key="API_KEY")
#generate data
x0 = rnorm(500)
x1 = rnorm(500)+1
#arrange your graph
data0 = list(x=x0,
name = "Carrots",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
data1 = list(x=x1,
name = "Cukes",
type='histogramx',
opacity = 0.8)
#specify type as 'overlay'
layout <- list(barmode='overlay',
plot_bgcolor = 'rgba(249,249,251,.85)')
#format response, and use 'browseURL' to open graph tab in your browser.
response = p$plotly(data0, data1, kwargs=list(layout=layout))
url = response$url
filename = response$filename
browseURL(response$url)
Full disclosure: I'm on the team.
So many great answers but since I've just written a function (plotMultipleHistograms() in 'basicPlotteR' package) function to do this, I thought I would add another answer.
The advantage of this function is that it automatically sets appropriate X and Y axis limits and defines a common set of bins that it uses across all the distributions.
Here's how to use it:
# Install the plotteR package
install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("JosephCrispell/basicPlotteR")
library(basicPlotteR)
# Set the seed
set.seed(254534)
# Create random samples from a normal distribution
distributions <- list(rnorm(500, mean=5, sd=0.5),
rnorm(500, mean=8, sd=5),
rnorm(500, mean=20, sd=2))
# Plot overlapping histograms
plotMultipleHistograms(distributions, nBins=20,
colours=c(rgb(1,0,0, 0.5), rgb(0,0,1, 0.5), rgb(0,1,0, 0.5)),
las=1, main="Samples from normal distribution", xlab="Value")
The plotMultipleHistograms() function can take any number of distributions, and all the general plotting parameters should work with it (for example: las, main, etc.).

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