help aspect_option
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Title
[G] aspect_option -- Option for controlling the aspect ratio of the plot
region
Syntax
aspect_option description
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aspectratio(# [, pos_option]) set plot region aspect ratio to #
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pos_option description
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placement(compassdirstyle) placement of plot region
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Description
The aspectratio() option controls the relationship between the height and
width of a graph's plot region. For example, when #=1, the height and
width will be equal (their ratio is 1), and the plot region will be
square.
Option
aspectratio() specifies the aspect ratio and, optionally, the placement
of the plot region.
Suboption
placement(compassdirstyle) specifies where the plot region is to be
placed to take up the area left over by restricting the aspect ratio.
Remarks
The aspectratio(#) option constrains the ratio of the plot region to #.
So, if # is 1, the plot region is square; if it is 2, the plot region is
twice as tall as it is wide; and, if it is .25, the plot region is
one-fourth as tall as it is wide. The most common use is aspectratio(1),
which produces a square plot region.
The overall size of the graph is not changed by the aspectratio() option.
Thus constraining the aspect ratio will generally leave some additional
space around the plot region in either the horizontal or vertical
dimension. By default, the plot region will be centered in this space,
but you can use the placement() option to control where the plot region
is located. placement(right) will place the plot region all the way to
the right in the extra space, leaving all the blank space to the left;
placement(top) will place the plot region at the top of the extra space,
leaving all the blank space at the bottom; placement(left) and
placement(right) work similarly.
Specifying an aspect ratio larger than the default for a graph causes the
width of the plot region to become narrower. Conversely, specifying a
small aspect ratio causes the plot region to become shorter. Because
titles and legends can be wider than the plot region, and because most
schemes do not allow titles and legends to span beyond the width of the
plot region, this can sometimes lead to surprising spacing of some graph
elements; for example, axes may be forced away from their plot region.
If this occurs, the spacing can be improved by adding the span suboption
to the title(), subtitle(), legend(), or other options. The span option
must be added to each element that is wider than the plot region. See
Spanning in [G] title_options for a diagram.
Also see
Manual: [G] aspect_option
Help: [G] graph twoway, [G] graph bar, [G] graph box, [G] graph dot
