Subscripts in plots in R

Question

I can't find a way how to write subscripts in the title or the subtitle in R. How can I write v 1,2 with 1,2 as subscripts?

Thanks for your help!

score 157 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 03 '17 at 11:34

157

expression is your friend:

plot(1,1, main=expression('title'^2))  #superscript
plot(1,1, main=expression('title'[2])) #subscript

edited Jun 03 '17 at 11:34

Tom Kelly

1,198
14
22

answered Apr 14 '12 at 19:05

smu

8,167
2
18
14

3

How to load "2" from the variable? I have a loop and need to plot x_[1] x_[2] x_[3] ... – 0x2207 Dec 11 '14 at 11:38
7

You can use `bquote` when working with subscripted variables. Say, `nIter – fdetsch Jan 07 '15 at 09:55

score 137 · Answer 2 · answered May 21 '14 at 09:15

137

If you are looking to have multiple subscripts in one text then use the star(*) to separate the sections:

plot(1:10, xlab=expression('hi'[5]*'there'[6]^8*'you'[2]))

answered May 21 '14 at 09:15

Cyrille

2,897
1
26
29

6

Wow, a two-day old answer to a two-year old question, that turns out to be what I needed. Thanks! – Michael May 24 '14 at 00:25
3

And if you want the subscript to be a string, just put it in quotes: `plot(1:10, xlab=expression('hi'[5]*'there'[6]^8*'you'['down here']*'and'^'up'*'there'))` – Stewart Macdonald Sep 11 '14 at 07:28
1

That's a good tip as you can put `[digits]` or `[characters]` or even `[a5]` in the subscript but not `[5a]` or `[a a]`. I recently discovered this for: `expression('x'['10sdt'])` – Cyrille Sep 19 '14 at 13:26

score 30 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 14 '12 at 19:07

30

See ?expression

plot(1:10,main=expression("This is a subscript "[2]))

enter image description here

answered Apr 14 '12 at 19:07

Chase

65,190
17
140
160

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:12

13

A subscript and referring to a stored value...

a <- 10
plot(c(0,1), c(0,1), type = 'n', ann = FALSE, xaxt = 'n', yaxt = 'n')
text(0.2, 0.6, cex = 1.5, bquote(paste('S'['f']*' = ', .(a))))

answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:12

Tony Ladson

3,229
1
21
28

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 21 '16 at 18:32

7

Another example, expression works for negative superscripts without the need for quotes around the negative number:

title(xlab=expression("Nitrate Loading in kg ha"^-1*"yr"^-1))

and you only need the * to separate sections as mentioned above (when you write a superscript or subscript and need to add more text to the expression after).

answered Sep 21 '16 at 18:32

user29609

1,771
17
21

1

Thanks for explicitly explaining what the * does! – Lalochezia Apr 07 '18 at 03:33

Megatron · Answer 6 · 2019-05-30T13:57:25.353

As other users have pointed out, we use expression(). I'd like to answer the original question which involves a comma in the subscript:

How can I write v 1,2 with 1,2 as subscripts?

plot(1:10, 11:20 , main=expression(v["1,2"]))

Also, I'd like to add the reference for those looking to find the full expression syntax in R plotting: For more information see the ?plotmath help page. Running demo(plotmath) will showcase many expressions and relevant syntax.

Remember to use * to join different types of text within an expression.

Here is some of the sample output from demo(plotmath):

Subscripts in plots in R

6 Answers6

Linked

Related