Reset par to the default values at startup

Solution 1:

Every time a new device is opened par() will reset, so another option is simply do dev.off() and continue.

Solution 2:

This is hacky, but:

resetPar <- function() {
    dev.new()
    op <- par(no.readonly = TRUE)
    dev.off()
    op
}

works after a fashion, but it does flash a new device on screen temporarily...

E.g.:

> par(mfrow = c(2,2)) ## some random par change
> par("mfrow")
[1] 2 2
> par(resetPar())     ## reset the pars to defaults
> par("mfrow")        ## back to default
[1] 1 1

Solution 3:

From Quick-R

par()              # view current settings
opar <- par()      # make a copy of current settings
par(col.lab="red") # red x and y labels 
hist(mtcars$mpg)   # create a plot with these new settings 
par(opar)          # restore original settings

Solution 4:

An alternative solution for preventing functions to change the user par. You can set the default parameters early on the function, so that the graphical parameters and layout will not be changed during the function execution. See ?on.exit for further details.

on.exit(layout(1))
opar<-par(no.readonly=TRUE)
on.exit(par(opar),add=TRUE,after=FALSE)