Hi Dieter, I actually solved *my* problem:
Key(x = 0.667, y = 0.833, lev = c(expression(italic(b)), expression(italic(c)), expression(italic(d))), other = list(title = expression(italic(v)), cex.title = 1)) I was able to figure this out only by looking at the code for Key(), because I hadn't come across the 'lev' argument in the documentation (in fact Key does not appear in the list of functions of Hmisc; I discovered its usefulness by consulting the examples for xYplot()). I would have expected this argument to be called 'labels' (see help(labels)), (or at least 'levels'): function (x = NULL, y = NULL, lev = c("b", "c", "d"), cex = c(0.7, 0.7, 0.7), col = c(2, 4, 9), font = c(1, 1, 1), pch = c(1, 2, 16), other = NULL) { … } … Note that the NULL setting of the parameter may be useful for programming, but it is not useful to anyone reading the code. How is one to proceed after having read help(NULL)? At the same time, I have no grounds for complaining about the documentation for Key(): Frank Harrell is giving away his work. His examples are extensive, and his functions always work as advertised. Sometimes they also work as not advertised. This is one of the cases where I wish there were a function that "exercised" all the arguments of a graphics function by visualizing the effect of changing two or three levels of each argument (one by one, of course). This might have the side effect of allowing authors to shorten documentation. I have in mind adding a method to each graphics function, and having the author specify the two or three instructive levels of each argument. See the exhaustive exploration by J.R. Lobry, A.B. Dufour & D. Chessel of the graphical parameters accessible by par(), at http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/R/fichestd/tdr75.pdf On Dec 6, 2007, at 2:17 AM, Dieter Menne wrote: > Michael Kubovy <kubovy <at> virginia.edu> writes: > >> >> Dear r-helpers, >> >> How do I tell xYplot() and Key() that I want the labels in italic? >> > .... >> Key(x = 0.667, y = 0.833, other = list(title = expression(italic(v)), >> cex.title = 1, >> labels = c(expression(italic(b)), expression(italic(c)), >> expression(italic(d))))) >> dev.off() > > Michael, > > I have submit a similar case last week to the Bug tracker. Maybe you > can raise > that "enhancement request" to "defect" > > http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/trac/Hmisc/ticket/21 > > Dieter > > ----------- > The Key function generated by some plot commands should have a ... > parameter. > Otherwise, the ... in rlegend is useless, and it would be nice to be > able to > suppress the box, for example. > > Key = function (x = NULL, y = NULL, lev = c("No Fail", "Fail"), pch > = c(16, 1)) > { .. part omitted > > rlegend(x, y, legend = lev, pch = pch, ...) invisible() > > } _____________________________ Professor Michael Kubovy University of Virginia Department of Psychology USPS: P.O.Box 400400 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400 Parcels: Room 102 Gilmer Hall McCormick Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 Office: B011 +1-434-982-4729 Lab: B019 +1-434-982-4751 Fax: +1-434-982-4766 WWW: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mk9y/ ______________________________________________ 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.