elegantly creating strings within sequence in R for ggplot2 axis labels

Question

I am trying to label a ggplot with years but maintain 3 monthly tick marks, so require:

labels = c(0,"","","", 12,"","","", 24,"","","", 36...)

slightly neater is:

labels = c(0,rep("",3),12,rep("",3),24,rep("",3),36...)

It must be possible to programatically create this.

gsub("," , ",'','',''," ,"0,12,24,36" )

is close, but the only actual working solution I've managed is

labels=c()
for (i in 0:3){ labels<-c(labels,i*12,rep("",3)) }

I'm sure there must be an elegant solution can anyone come up with one?

I think your solution looks quite elegant. You could also do lapply: unlist(lapply(seq(0, 40, 12), c, rep("", 3))) — user1981275
– user1981275, Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 10:52

Simon O'Hanlon · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-25 11:13:59Z

2

I'd create a vector using seq and use the modulo operator (%%) to blank out entries I didn't want...

# Some data
df <- data.frame( x=seq(0,36) , y = rnorm(37) )

# Make quarterly labels  
lab <- seq(0,36,by=3)

# Blank everything that is not evenly divisible by 12 months
lab[ lab %% 12 > 0 ] <- ""

# Plot
ggplot( df , aes(x,y) ) + geom_point() +
  scale_x_continuous( breaks = seq(0,36,by=3) , labels = lab )

enter image description here

answered Apr 25, 2014 at 11:13

Simon O'Hanlon

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ilir · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-25 10:26:28Z

0

This will create the sequence for 10 years (40 entries)

lbls <- rep("", 40)   ## start empty vector
lbls[1+4*0:9] <- 12*0:9   ## selectively replace values with multiples of 12

I hope that helps.

edited Apr 25, 2014 at 10:26

answered Apr 25, 2014 at 10:12

ilir

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