Plotting two or more overlapping density plots on the same graph

This post was updated.
See this thread from StackOverflow for other ways to solve this task.

plot.multi.dens <- function(s)
{
junk.x = NULL
junk.y = NULL
for(i in 1:length(s))
{
junk.x = c(junk.x, density(s[[i]])$x)
junk.y = c(junk.y, density(s[[i]])$y)
}
xr <- range(junk.x)
yr <- range(junk.y)
plot(density(s[[1]]), xlim = xr, ylim = yr, main = "")
for(i in 1:length(s))
{
lines(density(s[[i]]), xlim = xr, ylim = yr, col = i)
}
}
#usage:
x = rnorm(1000,0,1)
y = rnorm(1000,0,2)
z = rnorm(1000,2,1.5)
# the input of the following function MUST be a numeric list
plot.multi.dens(list(x,y,z))
library(Hmisc)
le <- largest.empty(x,y,.1,.1)
legend(le,legend=c("x","y","z"), col=(1:3), lwd=2, lty = 1)

Density curve over a histogram

This post was updated.

x <- rnorm(1000)
hist(x, freq = FALSE, col = "grey")
curve(dnorm, col = 2, add = TRUE)

This thread (specifically the Ted Harding answer) from the r-help-list augments the usefulness of this simple tip.

This kind of plots cab be easily produced using the lessR package.

For example, from ?color.density:

library(lessR)
# generate 100 random normal data values
y <- rnorm(100)
# normal curve and general density curves superimposed over histogram
# all defaults
color.density(y)

Rotating a distribution plot by 90 degrees

x <- c( rnorm(50,10,2), rnorm(30,20,2) )
y <- 2+3*x + rnorm(80)
d.x <- density(x)
d.y <- density(y)
layout( matrix( c(0,2,2,1,3,3,1,3,3),ncol=3) )
plot(d.x$x, d.x$y, xlim=range(x), type='l')
plot(d.y$y, d.y$x, ylim=range(y), xlim=rev(range(d.y$y)), type='l')
plot(x,y, xlim=range(x), ylim=range(y) )