SAS/GRAPH(R) 9.2: Graph Template Language Reference

Product	Release
SAS/GRAPH	9.2

Key Concepts

Curve Label Position Relative to the Curve Line

Given a curve label's location inside or outside of the plot area, a plot statement's CURVELABELPOSITION= option can adjust the label's position relative to the curve line. For example, the following positions are available for a series plot (for some plots, START and END are not available):

AUTO: Only used when CURVELABELLOCATION=OUTSIDE. The curve label will be positioned automatically near the end series line along unused axes whenever possible (typically Y2 or X2) to avoid collision with tick values.
MAX: Forces the curve label to appear near maximum series values (typically, to the right).
MIN: Forces the curve label to appear near minimum series values (typically, to the left).
START: Only used when CURVELABELLOCATION=INSIDE. Forces the curve label to appear near the beginning of the curve. Particularly useful when the curve line has a spiral shape.
END: Only used when CURVELABELLOCATION=INSIDE. Forces the curve label to appear near the end of the curve Particularly useful when the curve line has a spiral shape.

When CURVELABELLOCATION=INSIDE, you can choose whether to position the curve label near the START or END of the curve, or near the minimum data values (MIN) or maximum data values (MAX). START and END use a different algorithm than MIN and MAX and are particularly useful for spiral-shaped curves whose end points do not correlate with the minimum and maximum data values. In those cases, START or END will provide "better" label locations than MIN and MAX.

When CURVELABELLOCATION=OUTSIDE and CURVELABELPOSITION=AUTO, a "good" position is automatically choosen to avoid collision with the axis information.

The following figure shows the different combinations of label locations and positions:

curvelabelposition image

The minimum or maximum axis tick marks may be adjusted (see "Adjusting Axis Offsets") so that the label can be placed inside the plot area. Increasing label length decreases the area available for displaying plots.
When CURVLABELLOCATION=OUTSIDE, you can set the CURVELABELPOSITION to MIN or MAX, but the label may collide with the axis ticks and tick values, unless you are aware of where the axes are positioned.

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