Use superscripts in text with paste (for a vector of several values) in R

Question

I want labels with superscripts in my legend. Furthermore, I want to construct the labels with paste function. I have figured out how to have a legend that uses my vector of values using paste. I have also used expression to get superscripts. But I can't use them together.

Here are my attempts:

A plot with the legend successfully plotting three legend items based on a vector of values but no superscript in legend.

#set-up
size=c(50, 100, 150)
paste(size, "km^2", sep=" ")
#output: paste function works
# "50 km^2"  "100 km^2" "150 km^2"

#plot sample graph
plot(x=c(1:10)*100, y=c(1:10)*10, col="red")
points(x=c(8:17)*50, y=c(1:10)*7, col="green")
points(x=c(8:17)*50, y=c(1:10)*12, col="blue")
#legend
legend(x = 'topleft', 
       legend = paste(size, "km^2", sep=" "),
       col = c("red", "green", "blue"), pch=19,bty = 'n', xjust = 1, cex=0.8)

And here I can print with superscripts on the graph but without paste.

#print with superscript
mtext(line=-4,adj=0,expression('km'^'2'*' size '))

FAILED GRAPHS

If you just need squares, why not use the Unicode character for square km² — G5W
– G5W, Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 21:04
@G5W Could you expand on that? I am not familar with Unicode characters and my google searching is not getting me anything that works out — kl-higgins
– kl-higgins, Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 21:14
You can cut and paste the character, either from my comment km² OR just google to find them. For example, Wikipedia has a page on Unicode subscripts and superscripts Just cut and paste the ones you need. x² x³ x⁴ x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹ Paste it into your legend statement. — G5W
– G5W, Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 21:19
legend(x = 'topleft', legend = paste(size, 'km² size ', sep=" "), col = c("red", "green", "blue"), pch=19, bty = 'n', xjust = 1, cex=0.8) — G5W
– G5W, Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 21:24

eipi10 · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-09 21:36:11Z

4

You can create a vector of expression strings using paste and then parse them.

plot(x=c(1:10)*100, y=c(1:10)*10, col="red")
points(x=c(8:17)*50, y=c(1:10)*7, col="green")
points(x=c(8:17)*50, y=c(1:10)*12, col="blue")

#legend
legend(x = 'topleft', 
       legend = parse(text=paste(size, "*km^2~size")),
       col = c("red", "green", "blue"), pch=19, bty = 'n', xjust = 1, cex=0.8)

answered Mar 9, 2018 at 21:36

eipi10

94.6k28 gold badges220 silver badges299 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Use superscripts in text with paste (for a vector of several values) in R

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related