CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rggplot2
ah bon
ah bon

Reputation: 10021

How to choose values for plot.margin to add more space in the top right of plot using ggplot2

With sample data:

df <- structure(list(date = c("2021-10-1", "2021-10-2", "2021-10-3", 
"2021-10-4", "2021-10-5", "2021-10-6", "2021-10-7", "2021-10-8", 
"2021-10-9", "2021-10-10", "2021-10-11", "2021-10-12", "2021-10-13", 
"2021-10-14"), value = c(190.3, 174.9, 163.2, 168.4, 168.6, 168.2, 
163.5, 161.6, 172.9, 166.5, 175.2, 197.7, 212.1, 177.9), type = c(1L, 
1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L)), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA, 
-14L))

and code to plot below:

ggplot(data = df, 
       aes(x=date, y=value, group=type, color = type, fill = type)) + 
  geom_area(alpha=0.4, position = "identity") +
  theme(
    text = element_text(size=20),
    # plot.margin=unit(c(1, 1, 1.5, 1.2),"cm")
    # top, right, bottom, left
    # plot.margin=unit(c(0, 1.2, 1.5, 10), "pt")
    plot.margin=unit(rep(1, 4),'lines')
        ) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = range(df$value)) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = range(df$date)) +
  geom_hline(yintercept=c(min(df$value), max(df$value)), linetype='solid', col=colors[1]) +
  geom_text(aes(label = ifelse(date %in% max(date), as.character(date), ""), y = max(value)), color = colors[3], vjust=-0.2, hjust=1, size=6)

Out:

enter image description here

As you can see, the date in red box is not inside of plot, I've tried to adjust margin by adding plot.margin=unit(c(1, 1, 1.5, 1.2), "cm"); plot.margin=unit(c(0, 1.2, 1.5, 10), "pt"), plot.margin=unit(rep(1, 4),'lines'), etc., (even negative values) to theme(), but I didn't success.

I know four values in unit represent top, right, bottom, left, but I don't find a way to correctly adjust them.

Someone could help? Sincere thanks at advance.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2669

Answers (1)

DoRemy95
DoRemy95

Reputation: 634

One solution would be to use the expand parameter to the scale function. This parameters takes an "expansion vector" which is used to add some space between the data and the axes.

By replicating your code, I was able to visualize the date (within the margin) by adding expand = expansion(mult = c(0, 0.1), add = c(1, 0)) to scale_y_continuous().

Note that I am also using the expansion() function to create the expansion vector which will only expand the top y axis allowing us to visualize the date completely.

So the code would be:

ggplot(data = df, 
       aes(x=date, y=value, group=type, color = type, fill = type)) + 
  geom_area(alpha=0.4, position = "identity") +
  theme(
    text = element_text(size=20),
    # plot.margin=unit(c(1, 1, 1.5, 1.2),"cm")
    # top, right, bottom, left
    # plot.margin=unit(c(0, 1.2, 1.5, 10), "pt")
    plot.margin=unit(rep(1, 4),'lines')
  ) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = range(df$value),
                 expand = expansion(mult = c(0, 0.1), add = c(1, 0))) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = range(df$date)) +
  geom_hline(yintercept=c(min(df$value), max(df$value)), linetype='solid', col="grey40") +
  geom_text(aes(label = ifelse(date %in% max(date), as.character(date), ""), y = max(value)), color = "grey50", vjust=-0.2, hjust=1, size=6)

Out:

enter image description here

Here are some more information on this parameter and expansion():

Upvotes: 2

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