[R] plotting sorted factors

[Rui Barradas]

Hello,

The problem is that the factors are not orderd by the row number. If you 
want to check their order, use

str(sortdata)

and you'll see Santa-Rosa was attributed factor level 4 (in the output, 
first variable, the 3rd and 4th).

Try the following.

sortdata <- read.table(text="
        county year    x1    x2    x3    x4    x5     x6     x7 rank
141     Escambia 2002  6.50  5.95 13.70 20.64 20.49  65.86 100.65    1
142     Escambia 1999  7.31  5.33 15.67 18.94 20.99  73.22 100.53    1
539   Santa-Rosa 2006 10.70  5.99 11.33 15.34 18.69  57.72  76.03    2
540   Santa-Rosa 2007 13.31  5.86 16.15 13.74 29.02  66.80  80.68    2
441     Okaloosa 2004 10.45  6.12 12.02 22.42 22.36  63.38  95.30    3
442     Okaloosa 2005  8.23  8.53 17.83 12.53 25.44  67.19  83.25    3
443     Okaloosa 2006  9.17  4.77 17.88 15.53 20.44  71.56  86.98    3
444     Okaloosa 2003  8.83  6.29  9.79 21.43 34.14  65.44  84.88    3
621       Walton 1999  3.64 11.84  5.21 22.87 23.70  43.46  71.26    4
622       Walton 2000  0.00  5.91  2.47  4.97  7.05  46.11  75.41    4
623       Walton 2001  5.89  6.18  4.61 13.75 20.19  49.38  46.44    4
271       Holmes 2001 12.62  5.18 14.89 15.28  9.10  66.61  74.57    5
272       Holmes 2002  0.00  3.88  5.03 14.53 23.90  64.91 122.85    5
636   Washington 2004  0.00  6.53 16.70  7.78 17.23  48.77  53.22    6
", header=TRUE, stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
str(sortdata)  # county is character

sortdata$county <- with(sortdata, factor(county, levels=unique(county)))
str(sortdata)  # county is factor, Santa-Rosa is 2

# it now works
plot(sortdata$county,sortdata$x1,col=(c(rainbow(70))))
# preferable? I think it's more intuitive.
boxplot(x1~county, data=sortdata, col=rainbow(70))


Hope this helps,

Rui Barradas


Em 22-05-2012; 23:17, "Peterso" escreveu:
 > The "county" is a factor and I want to plot county vs variable x1 in 
the order that the counties are listed now,
 > which is in the order of the rank variable. But when plotting, county 
is sorted in alphabetical order again.  How can
 > I plot the graph with the county in the rank order?
 >
 > the following command plots county in alphabetical order even though 
the data frame sortdata is sorted by rank.
 >
 > plot(sortdata$county,sortdata$x1,col=(c(rainbow(70))))
 >
 >
 > below is part of sortdata
 >
 >        county year    x1    x2    x3    x4    x5     x6     x7 rank
 > 141     Escambia 2002  6.50  5.95 13.70 20.64 20.49  65.86 100.65    1
 > 142     Escambia 1999  7.31  5.33 15.67 18.94 20.99  73.22 100.53    1
 > 539   Santa-Rosa 2006 10.70  5.99 11.33 15.34 18.69  57.72  76.03    2
 > 540   Santa-Rosa 2007 13.31  5.86 16.15 13.74 29.02  66.80  80.68    2
 > 441     Okaloosa 2004 10.45  6.12 12.02 22.42 22.36  63.38  95.30    3
 > 442     Okaloosa 2005  8.23  8.53 17.83 12.53 25.44  67.19  83.25    3
 > 443     Okaloosa 2006  9.17  4.77 17.88 15.53 20.44  71.56  86.98    3
 > 444     Okaloosa 2003  8.83  6.29  9.79 21.43 34.14  65.44  84.88    3
 > 621       Walton 1999  3.64 11.84  5.21 22.87 23.70  43.46  71.26    4
 > 622       Walton 2000  0.00  5.91  2.47  4.97  7.05  46.11  75.41    4
 > 623       Walton 2001  5.89  6.18  4.61 13.75 20.19  49.38  46.44    4
 > 271       Holmes 2001 12.62  5.18 14.89 15.28  9.10  66.61  74.57    5
 > 272       Holmes 2002  0.00  3.88  5.03 14.53 23.90  64.91 122.85    5
 > 636   Washington 2004  0.00  6.53 16.70  7.78 17.23  48.77  53.22    6
 >
 > Thanks,
 > Johnny Liseth
 > Graduate Student in Statistics
 > University of West Florida