R in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14. Lattice Graphics

The lattice package provides a different way to plot graphics in R. Lattice graphics look different from standard R graphics, are created with different functions, and have different options. Lattice functions make it easy to do some things that are hard to do with standard graphics, such as plotting multiple plots on the same page or superimposing plots. Additionally, most lattice functions produce clean, readable output by default. This chapter shows what lattice graphics can do and explains how to use them.

The real strength of the lattice package is in splitting a chart into different panels (shown in a grid), or groups (shown with different colors or symbols) using a conditioning or grouping variable. This chapter includes many examples that start with a simple chart and then split it into multiple pieces to answer a question raised by the original plot.