Plotting a grid behind data, not in front in R

Question

I like to produce my own grid lines when plotting so I can control tick marks, etc. and I am struggling with this with the \'hist\' plotting routine.

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Answer 1

Another methods for grid lines in background:

A)

hist( y, panel.first=grid() )  # see: help( plot.default )
box()

B)

plot.new()                     # new empty plot
nv <- length( pretty(x) ) - 1  # number of vertical grid lines (or set by hand)
nh <- length( pretty(y) ) - 1  # number of horizontal grid lines (or set by hand)
grid( nx = nv, ny = nh )       # preplot grid lines
par( new = TRUE )              # add next plot
plot( x, y )                   # plot or hist, etc
box()                          # if plot hist

Arbitrary lines in background with abline:

C)

How do I draw gridlines using abline() that are behind the data?

D)

# first, be sure there is no +/-Inf, NA, NaN in x and y
# then, make the container plot with two invisible points:
plot( x = range( pretty( x ) ), y = range( pretty( y ) ), type = "n", ann = FALSE )
abline( h = hlines, v = vlines )  # draw lines. hlines, vlines: vectors of coordinates
par( new = TRUE )                 # add next plot. It is not necessary with points, lines, segments, ...
plot( x, y )                      # plot, hist, etc
box()                             # if plot hist