[R] help with the use of mtext to create main title over multiple plots

[Tony Plate]

Try playing around with the "oma" setting in par() -- it sets the outer margins, which by default are zero.

The following shows the mtext label for me, using the windows device:

> par(mfrow=c(2,2))
> par("oma")
[1] 0 0 0 0
> par("oma"=c(0,0,2,0))
> for (i in 1:4) plot(0:1,0:1)
> mtext(text = "my test plots", side = 3, outer = TRUE)
>

Mark Kimpel wrote:
> I'm trying to use mtext to create a main title over multiple plots. Below is
> a simple self-contained example and my sessionInfo (I should note I've also
> tried this with R-2.8.1 with the same results). When I execute the code
> chunk below, I get the plots, but no title. I've tried this using the screen
> driver, pdf, and postscript. I've used different sizes of paper. I suspect I
> am making an elementary error but searching the help files and help archives
> hasn't provided me an answer.
> 
> Thanks for any help, Mark
> 
> #############################################
> setwd("~/Desktop")
> pdf("my.test.plots.pdf", paper = "letter")
> par(mfrow=c(2,2))
> for (i in 1:4){
>   plot(1:6, 1:6)
> }
> mtext(text = "my test plots", side = 3, outer = TRUE)
> dev.off()
> #
> 
> R version 2.10.0 Under development (unstable) (2009-09-21 r49771)
> x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
> 
> locale:
>  [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C
>  [3] LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8
>  [5] LC_MONETARY=C              LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
>  [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C
>  [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C
> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> 
> other attached packages:
> [1] car_1.2-15
> 
> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
> [1] tools_2.10.0
> 
> Mark W. Kimpel MD  ** Neuroinformatics ** Dept. of Psychiatry
> Indiana University School of Medicine
> 
> 15032 Hunter Court, Westfield, IN  46074
> 
> (317) 490-5129 Work, & Mobile & VoiceMail
> (317) 399-1219 Skype No Voicemail please
> 
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