I have not followed this thread, so I am only responding to your last remark, and therefore the following may be useless to you (how's that for for a caveat!!) .... but maybe
plot(1:10,main=expression(delta*","*alpha)) might be helpful. Alternatively: x <- "delta" y <- "alpha" plot(1:10, main = bquote(.(as.name(x))*","*.(as.name(y))) ) produces the same result. Again, if this is all irrelevant, just ignore. If not, ?bquote and ?plotmath contain all necessary explanation. Cheers, Bert On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 6:57 PM, Eric Archer - NOAA Federal <eric.arc...@noaa.gov> wrote: > Duncan, > > Thanks for the suggestion, but that won't work for my situation. I'm trying > to use a character vector to label some axis ticks. There are some elements > in the vector that have either a comma, or both Greek symbols and a comma, > like the the third and fourth elements in x.lab below: > >> x <- 1:4 >> x.lab <- c("a*a", "bbb", "c,cc*c", "d,dd") >> x.lab <- gsub("\\*", "*Delta*", x.lab) >> x.lab <- parse(text = x.lab) > Error in parse(text = x.lab) : <text>:3:2: unexpected ',' > 2: bbb > 3: c, > ^ >> dotchart(x, labels = x.lab) > > The root problem that I'm stumped on is how to either: > 1) insert a comma into an expression and have it be read as a valid > character, or > 2) replace the comma in the character string with 'list(a, b, c)' as in the > help for plotmath and have it interpreted correctly. > > Cheers, > eric > > > On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Duncan Mackay <mac...@northnet.com.au>wrote: > >> Hi Eric >> >> I have not been following the thread but following on what David has said >> on previous occasions >> >> try for example >> >> plot(1,1, ylab = expression("aa aaa,aa bb"*Delta*"b cccc"*Delta*"cc, c") ) >> >> Below is from a partly saved previous post of David's several months ago >> which may give you some ideas >> >> DATA_names<-c( >> "A mg kg", >> "B mg kg", >> "C mg kg", >> "D mg kg", >> "E mg kg", >> "F mg kg", >> "G mg kg", >> "H mg kg") >> >> pos <- barplot(1:length(DATA_names)) >> text(x=pos,y=-1, xpd=TRUE, srt=45, >> labels= sapply( gsub("mg kg", "(mg kg)^-1", DATA_names), >> as.expression)) >> >> HTH >> >> Duncan >> >> >> Duncan Mackay >> Department of Agronomy and Soil Science >> University of New England >> Armidale NSW 2351 >> Email: home: mac...@northnet.com.au >> >> >> >> >> At 07:47 6/07/2013, you wrote: >> >>> I'm trying to format a given character vector as an expression with Greek >>> symbols to be used in labeling axis ticks. Thanks to some help from David >>> Winsemius, I've learned how to make the substitution and place the Greek >>> symbols in, however I've run into another problem: Some of my labels have >>> commas in them, so when the parse command is executed, there is an >>> unexpected symbol error. For example: >>> >>> > x <- c("aa", "aaa,aa", "bb*Delta*b", "cccc*Delta*cc,c") >>> > parse(text = x) >>> Error in parse(text = x) : <text>:2:4: unexpected ',' >>> 1: aa >>> 2: aaa, >>> ^ >>> >>> I've tried various iterations of wrapping the commas in interior quotes >>> ("aaa\",\"aa"), but then the error shifts to the quote. I see in plotmath >>> that 'list(a,b,c)' gives me comma separated values, but I haven't been >>> able >>> to work out how to get this construction for elements that have a comma. >>> >>> Is this possible? >>> >>> -- >>> >>> Eric Archer, Ph.D. >>> Southwest Fisheries Science Center >>> NMFS, NOAA >>> 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive >>> La Jolla, CA 92037 USA >>> 858-546-7121 (work) >>> 858-546-7003 (FAX) >>> >>> Marine Mammal Genetics Group: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-mmgenetics >>> ETP Cetacean Assessment Program: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-etp >>> >>> "The universe doesn't care what you believe. >>> The wonderful thing about science is that it >>> doesn't ask for your faith, it just asks >>> for your eyes." - Randall Munroe >>> >>> "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." >>> - Benjamin Franklin >>> >>> "...but I'll take a GPS over either one." >>> - John C. "Craig" George >>> >>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >>> >>> ______________________________**________________ >>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/**listinfo/r-help<https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help> >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/** >>> posting-guide.html <http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html> >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >>> >> >> >> > > > -- > > Eric Archer, Ph.D. > Southwest Fisheries Science Center > NMFS, NOAA > 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive > La Jolla, CA 92037 USA > 858-546-7121 (work) > 858-546-7003 (FAX) > > Marine Mammal Genetics Group: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-mmgenetics > ETP Cetacean Assessment Program: swfsc.noaa.gov/prd-etp > > "The universe doesn't care what you believe. > The wonderful thing about science is that it > doesn't ask for your faith, it just asks > for your eyes." - Randall Munroe > > "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." > - Benjamin Franklin > > "...but I'll take a GPS over either one." > - John C. "Craig" George > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics Internal Contact Info: Phone: 467-7374 Website: http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.