Generate multiple lattice plots on a grid using lapply in R

Question

How do plot multiple lattice plots onto a single lattice plot where the plots are generated using an lapply function?

The following is a demonstration of what I have tried so far using the built in mtcars dataset.

require(lattice)

response <- c("cyl","disp","hp","drat")

par(mfrow=c(2,2))

lapply(response, function(variable) {
  print(xyplot(mtcars$mpg ~ mtcars[variable]))
})

This produces the plots desired. However it seems to be ignoring the par(mfrow=c(2,2)) instruction and plotting each plot separately.

Answer 1

If you really don't want to use the built-in facetting or viewport options of lattice, you can replicate the behavior of par(mfrow) with the following,

require(lattice)

response <- c("cyl","disp","hp","drat")

# save all plots in a list
pl <- lapply(response, function(variable) {
  xyplot(mtcars$mpg ~ mtcars[variable])
})

library(gridExtra)
# arrange them in a 2x2 grid
do.call(grid.arrange, c(pl, nrow=2))