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rbar-chartaxis-labels

R: setting label spacing and position on a bar plot

I want to present percentages over a 24h period in 15 min intervals as a bar plot.

When I use barplot(), the labels for those timepoints are more or less randomly chosen by R (depending on how I format the window. I know it's not random, but it's not what I want either). I would rather have them evenly spaced at 1 h intervals (that is every 4th bar).

I have searched extensively on this and know i can add labels later with axis() but I have not found a way to set which bars are labeled and which are left blank.

So here is an example. Sorry for the long lines:

x<-sample(1:100,96)
Labels<-c("09","09:15","09:30","09:45","10:00","10:15","10:30","10:45","11","11:15","11:30","11:45","12","12:15","12:30","12:45","13","13:15","13:30","13:45","14","14:15","14:30","14:45","15","15:15","15:30","15:45","16","16:15","16:30","16:45","17","17:15","17:30","17:45","18","18:15","18:30","18:45","19","19:15","19:30","19:45","20","20:15","20:30","20:45","21","21:15","21:30","21:45","22","22:15","22:30","22:45","23","23:15","23:30","23:45","00","00:15","00:30","00:45","01","01:15","01:30","01:45","02","02:15","02:30","02:45","03","03:15","03:30","03:45","04","04:15","04:30","04:45","05","05:15","05:30","05:45","06","06:15","06:30","06:45","07","07:15","07:30","07:45","08","08:15","08:30","08:45")
names(x)<-Labels
barplot(x)
Solution

  • I do not think you can force R to show every label if it does not have enough space. But at least if you want to add the labels every 1h, the following code should work :

    x<-sample(1:100,96)
Labels<-c("09","09:15","09:30","09:45","10","10:15","10:30","10:45","11","11:15","11:30","11:45","12","12:15","12:30","12:45","13","13:15","13:30","13:45","14","14:15","14:30","14:45","15","15:15","15:30","15:45","16","16:15","16:30","16:45","17","17:15","17:30","17:45","18","18:15","18:30","18:45","19","19:15","19:30","19:45","20","20:15","20:30","20:45","21","21:15","21:30","21:45","22","22:15","22:30","22:45","23","23:15","23:30","23:45","00","00:15","00:30","00:45","01","01:15","01:30","01:45","02","02:15","02:30","02:45","03","03:15","03:30","03:45","04","04:15","04:30","04:45","05","05:15","05:30","05:45","06","06:15","06:30","06:45","07","07:15","07:30","07:45","08","08:15","08:30","08:45")

b=barplot(x,axes = F)
axis(2)
axis(1,at=c(b[seq(1,length(Labels),4)],b[length(b)]+diff(b)[1]),labels = c(Labels[seq(1,length(Labels),4)],"09"))

    histo