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R Line


Line Graphs

A line graph has a line that connects all the points in a diagram.

To create a line, use the plot() function and add the type parameter with a value of "l":

Example

plot(1:10, type="l")

Result:

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Line Color

The line color is black by default. To change the color, use the col parameter:

Example

plot(1:10, type="l", col="blue")

Result:

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Line Width

To change the width of the line, use the lwd parameter (1 is default, while 0.5 means 50% smaller, and 2 means 100% larger):

Example

plot(1:10, type="l", lwd=2)

Result:

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Line Styles

The line is solid by default. Use the lty parameter with a value from 0 to 6 to specify the line format.

For example, lty=3 will display a dotted line instead of a solid line:

Example

plot(1:10, type="l", lwd=5, lty=3)

Result:

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Available parameter values for lty:

  • 0 removes the line
  • 1 displays a solid line
  • 2 displays a dashed line
  • 3 displays a dotted line
  • 4 displays a "dot dashed" line
  • 5 displays a "long dashed" line
  • 6 displays a "two dashed" line

Multiple Lines

To display more than one line in a graph, use the plot() function together with the lines() function:

Example

line1 <- c(1,2,3,4,5,10)
line2 <- c(2,5,7,8,9,10)

plot(line1, type = "l", col = "blue")
lines(line2, type="l", col = "red")

Result:

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