How to make an R barplot with a log y-axis scale?

r label axis bar-chart
jake9115 picture jake9115 · Dec 19, 2013 · Viewed 11.7k times · Source

This should be a simple question... I'm just trying to make a barplot from a vector in R, but want the values to be shown on a log scale, with y-axis tick marks and labelling. I can make the normal barplot just fine, but when I try to use log or labelling, things go south.

Here is my current code:

samples <- c(10,2,5,1,2,2,10,20,150,23,250,2,1,500)
barplot(samples)

Ok, this works. Then I try to use the log="" function defined in the barplot manual, and it never works. Here are some stupid attempts I have tried:

barplot(samples, log="yes")
barplot(samples, log="TRUE")
barplot(log=samples)

Can someone please help me out here? Also, the labelling would be great too. Thanks!

Answer

zwol picture zwol · Dec 19, 2013

The log argument wants a one- or two-character string specifying which axes should be logarithmic. No, it doesn't make any sense for the x-axis of a barplot to be logarithmic, but this is a generic mechanism used by all of "base" graphics - see ?plot.default for details.

So what you want is

barplot(samples, log="y")

I can't help you with tick marks and labeling, I'm afraid, I threw over base graphics for ggplot years ago and never looked back.

Related questions

rotating axis labels in R

In R, how do I make a (bar)plot's y axis labels parallel to the X axis instead of parallel to the Y axis?

Read More
Rotating and spacing axis labels in ggplot2

I have a plot where the x-axis is a factor whose labels are long. While probably not an ideal visualization, for now I'd like to simply rotate these labels to be vertical. I've figured this part out with the code …

Read More
Editing legend (text) labels in ggplot

I have spent hours looking in the documentation and on StackOverflow, but no solution seems to solve my problem. When using ggplot I can't get the right text in the legend, even though it's in my dataframe. I have tried …

Read More