How to Fix in R: plot.new has not been called yet

Last Updated : 23 May, 2022

In this article, we will discuss how to fix the “plot.new has not been called yet” error in the R programming language.

The R compiler produces such an error when we try to carry an operation that requires a plot to exist in R but the plot doesn’t exist yet.

Error in plot.xy(xy.coords(x, y), type = type, ...) : 
  plot.new has not been called yet

Method 1: How to fix with lines() function

Here we will focus on how we can fix the error that can be produced by the R compiler while dealing with the lines() function.

Example:

Let’s consider an example, we have two vectors that hold the corresponding X and Y coordinates of 12 different points. Then we have used the lines() function to draw lines joining the points.

R

# R program to add lines into plots
  
# Constructing coordinate vectors
x <- c(1.7, 2.7, 3.7, -3.7, -5.7,
       3.7, 5.7, 4.8, 10.3, -12.9, 13.8, 12.3)
y <- c(1.2, 2.3, 3.2, -3.5, -3.2, 2.1,
       4.7, .8, 1.2, 11.5, 1.3, 3.2)
 
# Trying to draw lines of red colors
lines(x, y, col = "red")

Output:

The R compiler produces such an error because we didn’t create the plot before using the lines() function. We can fix this error easily by creating a plot before using the lines() function:

Example:

Here, in this example, we are fixing the above error by simply calling the plot function before the lines() function to get the idea of the points given.

R

# R program to add lines into plots
  
# Constructing coordinate vectors
x <- c(1.7, 2.7, 3.7, -3.7, -5.7,
       3.7, 5.7, 4.8, 10.3, -12.9, 13.8, 12.3)
y <- c(1.2, 2.3, 3.2, -3.5, -3.2, 2.1,
       4.7, .8, 1.2, 11.5, 1.3, 3.2)
  
# Plotting the graph
plot(x, y, cex = 1, pch = 3,
     xlab ="x", ylab ="y",
     col ="black")
 
# Trying to draw lines of red colors
lines(x, y, col = "red")

Output:

This time the program compiled successfully because we have created the plot before using the lines() function.

Method 2: How to fix with abline() function:

In this part, we focus on how we can fix the error that can be produced by the R compiler while dealing with the abline() function.

Example:

Let’s consider an example, we have two vectors that hold the corresponding X and Y coordinates of 12 different points. Then we have used the ablines() function to draw a horizontal line at Y = 5.

R

# R program to add a horizontal line
  
# Constructing coordinate vectors
x <- c(1.7, 2.7, 3.7, -3.7, -5.7,
       3.7, 5.7, 4.8, 10.3, -12.9, 13.8, 12.3)
y <- c(1.2, 2.3, 3.2, -3.5, -3.2, 2.1,
       4.7, .8, 1.2, 11.5, 1.3, 3.2)
 
# Try to add horizontal line at y=5
abline(a=5, b=0, lwd=3)

Output:

The R compiler produces such an error because we didn’t create the plot before using the abline() function. We can fix this error easily by creating a plot before using the abline() function:

Example:

So, here for resolving the above error, we are calling the plot() function before the abline function with the given parameters, and by this, the program compiled successfully without any error.

R

# R program to add a horizontal line
  
# Constructing coordinate vectors
x <- c(1.7, 2.7, 3.7, -3.7, -5.7,
       3.7, 5.7, 4.8, 10.3, -12.9, 13.8, 12.3)
y <- c(1.2, 2.3, 3.2, -3.5, -3.2, 2.1,
       4.7, .8, 1.2, 11.5, 1.3, 3.2)
  
# Plotting the graph
plot(x, y, cex = 1, pch = 3,
     xlab ="x", ylab ="y",
     col ="black")
 
#attempt to add horizontal line at y=5
abline(a=5, b=0, lwd=3)