\HeaderA{dotchart}{Cleveland Dot Plots}{dotchart}
\keyword{hplot}{dotchart}
\begin{Description}\relax
Draw a Cleveland dot plot.
\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
dotchart(x, labels = NULL, groups = NULL, gdata = NULL,
         cex = par("cex"), pch = 21, gpch = 21, bg = par("bg"),
         color = par("fg"), gcolor = par("fg"), lcolor = "gray",
         xlim = range(x[is.finite(x)]),
         main = NULL, xlab = NULL, ylab = NULL, ...)
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{Arguments}
\begin{ldescription}
\item[\code{x}] either a vector or matrix of numeric values (\code{NA}s are
allowed).  If \code{x} is a matrix the overall plot consists of
juxtaposed dotplots for each row.
\item[\code{labels}] a vector of labels for each point.
For vectors the default is to use \code{names(x)} and for matrices
the row labels \code{dimnames(x)[[1]]}.
\item[\code{groups}] an optional factor indicating how the elements of
\code{x} are grouped.
If \code{x} is a matrix, \code{groups} will default to the columns
of \code{x}.
\item[\code{gdata}] data values for the groups.
This is typically a summary such as the median or mean
of each group.
\item[\code{cex}] the character size to be used.  Setting \code{cex}
to a value smaller than one can be a useful way of avoiding label
overlap.  Unlike many other graphics functions, this sets the actual
size, not a multiple of \code{par("cex")}.
\item[\code{pch}] the plotting character or symbol to be used.
\item[\code{gpch}] the plotting character or symbol to be used for group
values.
\item[\code{bg}] the background color of plotting characters or symbols to be
used; use \code{\LinkA{par}{par}(bg= *)} to set the background color of
the whole plot.
\item[\code{color}] the color(s) to be used for points and labels.
\item[\code{gcolor}] the single color to be used for group labels and
values.
\item[\code{lcolor}] the color(s) to be used for the horizontal lines.
\item[\code{xlim}] horizontal range for the plot, see
\code{\LinkA{plot.window}{plot.window}}, e.g.
\item[\code{main}] overall title for the plot, see \code{\LinkA{title}{title}}.
\item[\code{xlab, ylab}] axis annotations as in \code{title}.
\item[\code{...}] graphical parameters can also be specified as arguments.
\end{ldescription}
\end{Arguments}
\begin{Value}
This function is invoked for its side effect, which is to produce two
variants of dotplots as described in Cleveland (1985).

Dot plots are a reasonable substitute for bar plots.
\end{Value}
\begin{References}\relax
Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)
\emph{The New S Language}.
Wadsworth \& Brooks/Cole.

Cleveland, W. S. (1985)
\emph{The Elements of Graphing Data.}
Monterey, CA: Wadsworth.

Murrell, P. (2005) \emph{R Graphics}. Chapman \& Hall/CRC Press.
\end{References}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}
dotchart(VADeaths, main = "Death Rates in Virginia - 1940")
op <- par(xaxs="i")# 0 -- 100%
dotchart(t(VADeaths), xlim = c(0,100),
         main = "Death Rates in Virginia - 1940")
par(op)
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}

