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Cleveland Dotcharts

Syntax

dotchart(x, labels, glabels, cols=rep(1,2),
        separate=true, divide=true, shrink=1, margin=1,
        ...)

Arguments

x either a vector or matrix of numeric values (NAs are allowed). If x is a matrix the overall plot consists of dotcharts for each row juxtaposed.
labels a vector of labels for each point. For vectors the default is to use names(x) and for matrices the row labels dimnames(x)[[1]].
glabels in the matrix case, this vector provides labels for each of the juxtaposed row dotcharts. The default is to use the column labels of x.
labcols colors to be used for case and group labels.
separate in the matrix case, separate=true will cause additional space to be left between the juxtaposed plots.
divide in the matrix case, divide=true will cause lines to be drawn between juxtaposed plots.
shrink a magnification factor for the case and group labels. Values less than one can help prevent label overlap.
margin the size of the left margin of the plot in inches.
... graphical parameters can also be specified as arguments.

Description

dotchart produces two variants of dotcharts as described in Cleveland's graphics book.

Dotcharts are a reasonable substitute for barcharts.

References

Cleveland, W. S. (1985). The Elements of Graphing Data, Monterey, CA: Wadsworth.

Examples

load("deaths") dotchart(deaths, main="Death Rates in VA - 1940") dotchart(t(deaths), main="Death Rates in VA - 1940")