Get or set plot margins conveniently

Convenience wrapper around graphics::par() for getting and setting plot margins (mar) or outer margins (oma). Individual sides can be modified without affecting the others.

Usage

mar(bottom = NULL, left = NULL, top = NULL, right = NULL, outer = FALSE)

Arguments

bottom, left, top, right

numeric scalars specifying the margin size (in lines) for each side. If NULL, the current value is retained.

outer

logical; if TRUE, outer margins (oma) are used instead of inner margins (mar).

Value

If no arguments are provided, returns the current margin vector (numeric of length 4). Otherwise, sets the margins and returns the new values invisibly.

Details

This function simplifies partial updates of par("mar") or par("oma"). It avoids the need to manually query and reconstruct the full margin vector.

For restoring graphical parameters, the recommended base R approach is:

op <- par(no.readonly = TRUE)
on.exit(par(op))

See also

Other graphics.layout: abcCoords(), axTicks, axisBreak(), isValidPlotRegion(), lineToUser(), plotFacet(), spreadOut()

Examples

# Get current margins
mar()
#> [1] 5.1 4.1 4.1 2.1

# Set bottom margin only
mar(bottom = 2)

# Set multiple margins
mar(bottom = 2, left = 2)

# Modify outer margins
mar(top = 1, outer = TRUE)