Unless you have a really large number of wells I'd just use the brute force approach of reading in each data set with a simple read.table or read.csv like
well1 <- read.csv("well1.csv) type of statement and repeat for each well. Here is a simple example that may give you an idea of how to do the boxplots . I have done them two ways, one using base graphics and the other using ggplot2. You will probably have to install the ggplot2 package -- just issue the command install.packages("ggplot2) The base approach is initially a lot simpler but in the longer term, if you expect to do a lot of graphing work in R, the grid packages like ggplot2 or lattice seem to offer a lot more control for less actual typing, especially if you need publication/report quality graphics. ##===============start code===================== set.seed(345) #reproducable sample # create three sample data sets, well_1 <- data.frame(arsenic = rnorm(12)) well_2 <- data.frame (arsenic = rnorm(10)) well_3 <- data.frame (arsenic = rnorm(15)) wells <- rbind(well_1, well_2, well_3) # create single data.frame #create an id value for each well well_id <- c(rep(1,nrow(well_1)), rep(2, nrow(well_2)), rep(3, nrow(well_3))) #add the well identifier wells <- cbind(wells , well_id) str(wells) # check to see what we have boxplot(arsenic ~ well_id, data = wells) # plot vertical boxplot boxplot(arsenic ~ well_id, data = wells, horizontal = TRUE,col=c("red","green","blue")) #horizontal box plot # vertical boxplot using ggplot2 library(ggplot2) p <- ggplot(wells, aes(as.factor(well_id), arsenic)) + geom_boxplot() p # horizontal boxplot p1 <- p + coord_flip() p1 p2 <- ggplot(wells, aes(as.factor(well_id), arsenic, fill = as.factor(well_id) )) + geom_boxplot() + coord_flip() + scale_fill_discrete(guide=FALSE) ##===============end code====================== John Kane Kingston ON Canada -----Original Message----- From: annij...@gmail.com Sent: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:22:02 -0400 To: jrkrid...@inbox.com Subject: Re: [R] boxplot Hello John, I apologize for the delayed response. Yes I am referring to the same type of data in the data sets. For example, the arsenic concentrations in individual groundwater monitoring wells at a groundwater contaminated site, where one well may have 12 concentration measurements, another well has 10, etc. Thanks Janh On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 5:31 PM, John Kane <[1]jrkrid...@inbox.com> wrote: Hi Janh, When you say that you have "multiple data sets of unequal sample sizes" are you speaking of the same kind of data" For example are you speaking of data from a set of experiments where the variables measured are all the same and where when you graph them you expect the same x and y scales? Or are you talking about essentilly independent data sets that it makes sense to graph in a grid ? John Kane Kingston ON Canada > -----Original Message----- > From: [2]annij...@gmail.com > Sent: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:46:21 -0400 > To: [3]dcarl...@tamu.edu > Subject: Re: [R] boxplot > > Hello All, > > On the subject of boxplots, I have multiple data sets of unequal sample > sizes and was wondering what would be the most efficient way to read in > the > data and plot side-by-side boxplots, with options for controlling the > orientation of the plots (i.e. vertical or horizontal) and the spacing? > Your > assistance is greatly appreciated, but please try to be explicit as I am > no > R expert. Thanks > > Janh > > > > On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 9:19 AM, David L Carlson <[4]dcarl...@tamu.edu> > wrote: > >> Your variable loc_type combines information from two variables (loc and >> type). Since you are subsetting on loc, why not just plot by type? >> >> boxplot(var1~type, data[data$loc=="nice",]) >> >> ---------------------------------------------- >> David L Carlson >> Associate Professor of Anthropology >> Texas A&M University >> College Station, TX 77843-4352 >> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: [5]r-help-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:[6]r-help-bounces@r- >>> [7]project.org] On Behalf Of Jim Lemon >>> Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 4:05 AM >>> To: carol white >>> Cc: [8]r-h...@stat.math.ethz.ch >>> Subject: Re: [R] boxplot >>> >>> On 03/21/2013 07:40 PM, carol white wrote: >>>> Hi, >>>> It must be an easy question but how to boxplot a subset of data: >>>> >>>> data = read.table("my_data.txt", header = T) >>>> boxplot(data$var1[data$loc == "nice"]~data$loc_type[data$loc == >>> "nice"]) >>>> #in this case, i want to display only the boxplot loc == "nice" >>>> #doesn't display the boxplot of only loc == "nice". It also displays >>> loc == "mice" >>>> >>> Hi Carol, >>> It's them old factors sneakin' up on you. Try this: >>> >>> boxplot(data$var1[data$loc == "nice"]~ >>> as.character(data$loc_type[data$loc == "nice"])) >>> >>> Jim >>> >>> ______________________________________________ >>> [9]R-help@r-project.org mailing list >>> [10]https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide [11]http://www.R-project.org/posting- >>> guide.html >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >> ______________________________________________ >> [12]R-help@r-project.org mailing list >> [13]https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide >> [14]http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > [15]R-help@r-project.org mailing list > [16]https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > [17]http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ____________________________________________________________ FREE 3D EARTH SCREENSAVER - Watch the Earth right on your desktop! 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References 1. mailto:jrkrid...@inbox.com 2. mailto:annij...@gmail.com 3. mailto:dcarl...@tamu.edu 4. mailto:dcarl...@tamu.edu 5. mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org 6. mailto:r-help-bounces@r- 7. http://project.org/ 8. mailto:r-h...@stat.math.ethz.ch 9. mailto:R-help@r-project.org 10. https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help 11. http://www.R-project.org/posting- 12. mailto:R-help@r-project.org 13. https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help 14. http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html 15. mailto:R-help@r-project.org 16. https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help 17. http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html 18. http://www.inbox.com/earth 19. http://www.inbox.com/email ______________________________________________ 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.