library(gridGraphics) grid1 <- function() { plot(1:3) grid(NA, 5, lwd = 2) # grid only in y-direction } grid2 <- function() { ## maybe change the desired number of tick marks: par(lab = c(mx, my, 7)) par(mfcol = 1:2) with(iris, { plot(Sepal.Length, Sepal.Width, col = as.integer(Species), xlim = c(4, 8), ylim = c(2, 4.5), panel.first = grid(), main = "with(iris, plot(...., panel.first = grid(), ..) )") plot(Sepal.Length, Sepal.Width, col = as.integer(Species), panel.first = grid(3, lty = 1, lwd = 2), main = "... panel.first = grid(3, lty = 1, lwd = 2), ..") } ) } plotdiff(expression(grid1()), "grid-1") plotdiff(expression(grid2()), "grid-2", width=9) plotdiffResult()