Overall title for a twoway graph with option 'by'

[Mitchell Linegar]

I'm trying to create a graph using twoway, but I'd only like one title. When I type

```sysuse auto
twoway lpoly price mpg, by(foreign) title("Some cool title here")```

I get the following:


But I only want *one* overall title, not the same title repeated for each of the 'by' choices. How can I do this?

[Nick Cox]

Tuck the -title()- option inside the -by()- option.

[Mitchell Linegar]

Perfect! I couldn't find anything in the documentation about this. As always, thank you very much Nick!

[Friedrich Huebler]

You can find the explanation in [G-3] by_option: http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?by_option#remarks3

[Rebecca Water]

This solution does not seem to work for -xtline-. May I ask what I can do here?
Also, can I expand the margin between the plots so they don't collide?

xtline mp_bcrude mp_dcrude if profile!=5, i(profile) t(year) ///
graphregion(color(white)) ///
ytitle("Number of births/deaths per 1000 population") ///
ylabel(10(10)50, angle(360)) ///
xtitle("Year") xtick(1960(10)2020) ///
legend(order(1 "Mean CBR" 2 "Mean CDR") ///
bmargin(medlarge) size(3.5)) ///
title("Mean Birth and Death Crude Rates (BCR/DCR)", color(black))

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int year float(profile mp_bcrude mp_dcrude)
1960 4  47.57697  23.88866
1960 2 36.600357 10.586572
1960 3  43.07193  14.88571
1960 5  33.43689 12.859654
1960 1  20.73978  9.758174
1961 3  43.09346 14.352318
1961 5  32.90062 12.622182
1961 1 20.776304  9.605913
1961 2 35.492573  10.31357
1961 4  47.50597 23.478643
1962 5 32.350437 12.483727
1962 4  47.42825  23.07111
1962 2 34.880573    10.045
1962 3  42.80611   13.7254
1962 1 20.582436  9.890347
1963 5  31.82678  12.14923
1963 3  42.90984  13.48659
1963 2 34.523643  9.802286
1963 4  47.34671 22.667053
1963 1  20.62152  9.854783
1964 2 33.931072  9.529928
1964 3  42.31495  13.14166
1964 4  47.26387  22.26734
1964 1  20.61809  9.568304
1964 5  31.16189  11.84226
1965 1  20.05674  9.769566
1965 2  33.17486  9.264714
1965 3  41.72713 12.724613
1965 5  30.44324 11.656273
1965 4  47.18189 21.871803
1966 4  47.10225 21.479803
1966 3   40.6012 12.233088
1966 5  29.73026 11.431052
1966 1  19.68304  9.697392
1966 2 32.145786  9.028571
1967 2 31.272785  8.750857
1967 1  19.82461  9.729609
1967 5  29.15566 11.270287
1967 3   40.4192 11.989227
1967 4  47.02484 21.091965
1968 1  19.43778  9.905261
1968 4  46.94979  20.70973
1968 2  30.68586  8.647072
1968 5  28.61335 11.133958
1968 3  39.84023  11.65034
1969 3  39.20823 11.328818
1969 5  28.21835 11.067592
1969 2 29.859785    8.3685
1969 1 18.943956 10.054565
1969 4  46.87748  20.33584
1970 3  38.21291 10.942533
1970 4  46.80923  19.97809
1970 1     18.37  9.846869
1970 2  29.60236  8.155714
1970 5  27.70147 10.916253
1971 4  46.74625 19.645876
1971 2 29.400286  7.912571
1971 1 18.014174   9.92113
1971 5 27.474916  10.75886
1971 3  37.91191 10.624434
1972 1 17.364391  9.790739
1972 3  37.31251  10.37261
1972 5  27.39801  10.61995
1972 2 28.707644    7.7535
1972 4  46.68741 19.341465
1973 2  28.09193  7.734929
1973 1 16.832043  9.825608
1973 3   36.7228 10.079196
1973 5  26.90089  10.50464
1973 4  46.63075 19.061447
1974 2  27.82743     7.549
1974 4  46.57388  18.79859
1974 1 16.840435   9.76513
1974 5  26.49836 10.402254
1974 3  36.23951  9.846261
1975 3 35.703068  9.610847
1975 1 16.435652     9.827
1975 5  26.10362 10.303855
1975 4  46.51707 18.535856
1975 2 27.027714  7.515143
1976 3 34.703217  9.398739
1976 1 16.060217  9.859391
1976 2  26.69264    7.3595
1976 5 25.942255  10.17779
1976 4  46.46062 18.251785
1977 3  34.26424  9.184717
1977 4   46.4018 17.931946
1977 5  25.79578  10.02138
1977 1 15.695392  9.649522
1977 2  26.21507  7.229786
1978 2 25.784143  7.088428
1978 3 33.951176  8.963087
1978 4  46.33466 17.570019
1978 1 15.378695  9.754304
1978 5 25.619423  9.931966
1979 3 33.605694  8.736913
1979 2  25.72993  6.991929
1979 5 25.698746  9.820933
1979 1 15.189695  9.691391
1979 4  46.25114 17.168108
end
format %ty year
label values profile dtgroup
label def dtgroup 1 "Forerunner", modify
label def dtgroup 2 "Follower", modify
label def dtgroup 3 "Trailer", modify
label def dtgroup 4 "Latecomer", modify
label def dtgroup 5 "unspecified", modify

[Nicolai Suppa]

Hi,
xtline allows the byopts(...) where you can place the title.
Hope this helps

[Rebecca Water]

Solved! Thanks, Nicolai!

If anyone needs the solution:

xtline mp_bcrude mp_dcrude if profile!=5, i(profile) t(year) ///
graphregion(color(white)) ///
ytitle("Number of births/deaths per 1000 population") ///
ylabel(10(10)50, angle(360)) ///
xtitle("Year") xtick(1960(10)2020) ///
legend(order(1 "Mean CBR" 2 "Mean CDR") ///
bmargin(medlarge) size(3.5)) ///
byopts(title("Mean Birth and Death Crude Rates (BCR/DCR)", color(black)))

[Rebecca Water]

I have another problem: How can I cange the lines' colors in the example above?
All I can change is the first line but I can't find a way to alter the second one as well:

 
xtline mp_bcrude mp_dcrude if profile!=5, i(profile) t(year) ///
graphregion(color(white)) ///
ytitle("Number of births/deaths per 1000 population") ///
ylabel(10(10)50, angle(360)) ///
xtitle("Year") xtick(1960(10)2020) ///
legend(order(1 "Mean CBR" 2 "Mean CDR") ///
bmargin(medlarge) size(3.5)) ///
byopts(title("Mean Birth and Death Crude Rates (BCR/DCR)", color(black))) ///
lcolor(black) ///DID NOT WORK

I also tried -plot#opts(lcolor(black))- -byopts(lc(black))- ;didn't work. Anything helps, thank you!

[Andrew Musau]

In the future, please start a new thread if your problem is different to that addressed by the original thread. Make sure to have an appropriate description of your problem for the benefit of those who will search the forum thereafter with a similar problem. Here, complicating the code is not the way to go. Keep it simple

xtline mp_bcrude mp_dcrude if profile!=5, i(profile) t(year) ///
graphregion(color(white)) ///
ytitle("Number of births/deaths per 1000 population") ///
ylabel(10(10)50, angle(360)) ///
xtitle("Year") xtick(1960(10)2020) ///
legend(order(1 "Mean CBR" 2 "Mean CDR") ///
bmargin(medlarge) size(3.5)) ///
byopts(title("Mean Birth and Death Crude Rates (BCR/DCR)", color(black))) ///
lcolor(red green)