st: Possible to have different colours for by() groups in histogram?

[Philip Jones <pjones8@uwo.ca>]

Hello,

I would like to know if it is possible in Stata to have different colours for plots in histograms created using the by() option. For instance, if I would like to plot frequencies of a Likert scale about the ease of a process (from 1 to 5) in two separate groups, I can generate a nice histogram using the by() option, but both "sides" (or plots) of the graph are the same colour.

For instance,

input group ease

1 1

1 2

1 3

1 3

1 3

1 3

1 4

1 5

1 5

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 3

2 3

2 4

2 4

2 5

2 5

end

graph twoway histogram ease, by(group) discrete frequency xtick(1(1)5) xlabel(1(1)5) gap(5) color(red)

This gives me a histogram, but I would like a different colour for each plot - say red for the plot on the left and blue for the one on the right.

I am sure there is a trivial way of achieving this, but I haven't been able to find it. The barlook_options are not valid for histograms, and using the graph editor to alter the colour also results in both plots becoming the same colour.

Many thanks,

Phil

____________________________________________________________________
Philip M G Jones, MD, FRCPC

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine
University of Western Ontario
London Health Sciences Centre