Changed/changing histogram legend position

[Tobias Hofmann]

Dear Statalist members,

Previous to Stata 18 (SE), histogram legends were positioned at 3, now they are positioned at 6 by default. How do I change that position?

sysuse auto, clear
version 18
hist price, by(foreign) kdensity scheme(s2color) // old legend at 6
hist price, by(foreign) kdensity // new legend at 3

If I want to use the new default scheme, but move the legend to 6, it does not work:

hist price, by(foreign) kdensity legend(position(6)) // does not change anything

It has nothing to do with the legend typically being turned off for histograms. If I explicitly turn it on, I get something that I definitely do not want, i.e., three legends, with the main legend still in the wrong place:

hist price, by(foreign) kdensity legend(on position(6)) // is not the solution I need

Do you have any idea how I can move the legend from the right to the bottom, i.e., to its pre-Stata 18 default position?

Thank you very much for your help!

Best,
Tobias

[Hemanshu Kumar]

I cannot replicate your problem. For me, on Stata 18, I get the legend at the 6 position with both the following commands:

hist price, by(foreign) kdensity scheme(s2color)
hist price, by(foreign) kdensity

That said, if you want the legend at 3, you need to specify that within the -by- option

hist price, by(foreign, legend(pos(3))) kdensity

See also: help by_option##use_of_legends

[Hemanshu Kumar]

Oh, I just realised why I wasn't replicating your issue: my default scheme is set to cleanplots while yours is probably the new Stata 18 default, stcolor. I can replicate the legend being at 3 with the stcolor scheme. The core advice remains intact, though. To shift the legend to the 6 position, you should put that option within the -by-.

hist price, by(foreign, legend(pos(6))) kdensity scheme(stcolor)

[Tobias Hofmann]

Dear Hemanshu Kumar,

Thank you so much for your help!

Best,
Tobias