Replace X-Axis Values in R (Example) | How to Change & Customize Ticks
In this R tutorial you’ll learn how to modify x-axis values manually.
The content of the post looks as follows:
Let’s get started.
Creating Example Plot
Let’s first create an exemplifying graphic in R:
plot(1:5) # Create plot in Base R |
Figure 1: Plot with Default X-Axis Values.
Figure 1 shows the output of the previous R code: A scatterplot with an x-axis ranging from 1 to 5.
Example: Changing X-Axis Values to Letters
Let’s assume that we want to modify our x-axis ticks so that the currently shown numbers are replaced by upper case letters. Then, we first have to create a graph without any axis values:
plot(1:5, # Create plot without x-axis xaxt = "n", xlab = "My X-Axis") |
Figure 2: Plot without X-Axis Values.
Figure 2 shows our plot without axis values.
Now, we can add custom axis values by using the axis function as shown below:
axis(1, # Define x-axis manually at = 1:5, labels = LETTERS[1:5]) |
Figure 3: Plot with Custom X-Axis Values.
Figure 3 shows our final result: A scatterplot with custom axis values.
Video & Further Resources
Do you need more explanations on the R codes of this article? Then I can recommend to have a look at the following video instruction which I have published on my YouTube channel. I show the R programming syntax of the present tutorial in the video.
Furthermore, you might have a look at the related articles that I have published on my website. I have released numerous tutorials already.
- Remove Axis Values of Plot in Base R
- Rotate Axis Labels of Base R Plot
- Change Formatting of Numbers of ggplot2 Plot Axis
- R Graphics Gallery
- The R Programming Language
In summary: You learned in this tutorial how to change the values on our axis scale in the R programming language. If you have further questions, please let me know in the comments section below.
