Adding grids in R with the grid function

There exists three main ways to add a grid to a plot in base R: using grid, axis or abline functions.

The `grid` function

The grid function is specifically designed to add grids to an existing plot. The function allows modifying the number of sections where to divide each axis with the nx and ny arguments, e.g. nx = 2 will create only a vertical line. You can also modify the color, width and type of the lines with the col, lwd and lty arguments, respectively.

Option 1. Add grid to X and Y axis.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)
grid(nx = NULL, ny = NULL,
     lty = 2,      # Grid line type
     col = "gray", # Grid line color
     lwd = 2)      # Grid line width

Add grid to plot in R

Option 2. Add grid only to Y-axis.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)
grid(nx = NA,
     ny = NULL,
     lty = 2, col = "gray", lwd = 2)

Add horizontal grid to base R plot

Option 3. Add grid only to X-axis.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)
grid(nx = NULL,
     ny = NA,
     lty = 2, col = "gray", lwd = 2)

Add vertical grid to plot in R

Option 4. Customize the number of division sections with nx and ny arguments.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)
grid(nx = 2, # X-axis divided in two sections
     ny = 3, # Y-axis divided in three sections
     lty = 2, col = "gray", lwd = 2)

Custom grid sections in R

Grid below plot

You may have noticed that the grid is added over the plot. In case you want to have the grid below your plot you have to add your plot over.

Grid below plot in R

Option 1. You can use plot.new() and par(new = TRUE). However, the grid won’t match the axis ticks.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot.new()

grid(nx = NULL, ny = NULL,
     lty = 2, col = "gray", lwd = 2)

par(new = TRUE)
plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

Add grid below plot in R

Option 2. Instead of using plot.new() you can use the plotting function to plot your data:

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x)

grid(nx = NULL, ny = NULL,
     lty = 2, col = "gray", lwd = 2)

par(new = TRUE)
plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

Histogram with horizontal grid in base R

Option 3. If the plotting function you are using (like hist, boxplot or barplot) supports the argument add, set add = TRUE instead of par(new = TRUE).

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

hist(x)
grid(nx = NA, ny = NULL,
     lty = 1, col = "gray", lwd = 1)
hist(x, col = 4,
     add = TRUE)

Boxplot with grid in R

Note that you can add a background color and a grid at the same time as follows:

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

boxplot(x)

# Light gray background
rect(par("usr")[1], par("usr")[3],
     par("usr")[2], par("usr")[4],
     col = "#ebebeb")

# Add white grid
grid(nx = NULL, ny = NULL,
     col = "white", lwd = 2)

# Boxplot
boxplot(x, col = 4, add = TRUE)

If your chart is a scatter plot you can add the points over the grid with the points function.

Adding a grid with the `axis` function

The axis function allows customizing the axes of the plots. However, if you set tck = 1 the tick marks of the axes will create a grid.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

# Vertical grid
axis(1, tck = 1, lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Horizontal grid  
axis(2, tck = 1, lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Grid below plot
par(new = TRUE)
plot(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

# Box of the plot
box()

Adding a grid in R with the axis function

Grid with `abline` function

Similarly to axis, abline allows you to add grid lines at some values. The main benefit of this approach is that it doesn’t override the axis line, so you don’t have to use the box function to solve it.

Adding a grid in R with the abline function

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x)

# Vertical grid
abline(v = seq(0, 500, 100),
       lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Horizontal grid  
abline(h = seq(-3, 3, 1),
       lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Grid below points
points(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

Align grid to ticks

When the ticks of the plot are different from the default you can align them using the axis or abline functions in case that specifying nx or ny arguments of the grid function doesn’t align them.

# Data
set.seed(132)
x <- rnorm(500)

plot(x,
     xaxp = c(100, 400, 10),
     yaxp = c(-2, 2, 5))

# Vertical grid  
axis(1,
     at = seq(100, 400, by = 20),
     tck = 1, lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Horizontal grid
axis(2,
     at = seq(-2, 2, by = 0.8),
     tck = 1, lty = 2, col = "gray")

# Box of the plot
box()

# Grid below points
points(x, pch = 19, col = 4)

Align grid to axis ticks in R