Boxplot of multiple vectors with different lengths

Thanks for the help, everyone. However, no solution yet...

My vectors names are neatly stored in a character vector of their own. This
happens based on how they were imported. So, say I have vectors a, b and c,
all with numeric-only contents. Then I have another vector, say z, that
looks like this:

z<-c("a","b","c")

Is there really no way to tell boxplot to plot the contents of a, b and c
while only referencing z?! Why is this so difficult?? Again, this is part
of an automated process, so the number of incoming data sets, etc. will
vary, which is why I'm seeking a solution this way.

On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Vining, Kelly<Kelly.Vining at oregonstate.edu

wrote:

Ryan,
Do you necessarily have to use "list"? Have you tried the usecols=TRUE
option in boxplot?

Cheers,
--Kelly V.

-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
On Behalf Of Ryan Utz
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 1:24 PM
To: r-help at r-project.org
Subject: [R] Boxplot of multiple vectors with different lengths

Hello,

I'm attempting to write a code that automatically imports data from
different files (with different lengths-just one variable) and makes tidy
box plots for comparison. I can successfully import the data and create a
list of the vectors I want to compare. But I cannot, for the life of me,
figure out how to generate box plots using the "list" option. Suppose these
are my data:

a<-c(1,1,1,1,2,3,2,1,2,3)
b<-c(2,2,2,3,4,4,4,3,3)
c<-c(4,3,3,2,3,4,5,3,3,3,4,4,5,6,3,2)

And this is my list of the vectors I'm interested in:

  z<-list(c("a","b","c"))

Well, this successfully generates the kind of boxplot I want:

boxplot(a,b,c)

But this does not:

boxplot(z)

Because I'm trying to write an automatic plot-generator as the amount of
data I'm working with will typically vary, I need to write this to handle
any number of data vectors.

I've tried every imaginable means of tweaking the name of "z", with zero
success. And I've scoured the help pages for about 45 minutes (just to
preempt any "read the help" responses). Please help!

Thanks,
Ryan

--

Ryan Utz, Ph.D.
Aquatic Ecologist/STREON Scientist
National Ecological Observatory Network

Home/Cell: (724) 272-7769
Work: (720) 836-2488

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