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rggplot2
KimN
KimN

Reputation: 257

Increase space between axis.title and axis.text in ggplot2 (version >= 0.9.0)

I am currently using the latest version of ggplot2 from github.

In version 0.8.9 I could do the following to increase space between axis.title and axis.text:

Before:

ggplot(diamonds, aes(clarity)) + geom_bar() + opts(
    axis.title.x = theme_text(vjust=-1.1)
)

Fix:

ggplot(diamonds, aes(clarity)) + geom_bar() + opts(
    axis.title.x = theme_text(vjust=-1.1),
    plot.margin = unit(c(1, 1, 0.8, 0.5), "lines")
)

link to graph

and the axis.title becomes fully visible.

In the latest github version of ggplot2 plot.margin has no effect on axis.title:

ggplot(diamonds, aes(clarity)) + geom_bar() + opts(
    axis.title.x = theme_text(vjust=-0.2),
    plot.margin = unit(c(1, 1, 2, 0.5), "lines"))

link to graph

(notice the increased bottom margin - I can't get plot.background to work in the latest development version)

It seems that 0.8.9 allows axis.title to move over the extra space created by plot.margin, but this is not allowed in the latest development version.

Is there a new way to accomplish this task (or a quick fix for it) in the latest development version?

Any help appreciated.

Upvotes: 17

Views: 26690

Answers (2)

Backlin
Backlin

Reputation: 14842

How to do it properly

Use the margin attribute of element_text for axis.title in theme. I use different margins for x and y since I rotate the y title to horizontal (making it easier to read).

library(ggplot2)
library(gridExtra)

ggplot(diamonds, aes(clarity)) +
    geom_bar() +
    theme(
        axis.title.x = element_text(margin = unit(c(3, 0, 0, 0), "mm")),
        axis.title.y = element_text(margin = unit(c(0, 3, 0, 0), "mm"), angle = 0)
    )

Demo of axis title margin

Old hack

opts and theme_text are no longer supported by ggplot. My quick and dirty solution is therefore to just add line breaks at the start or end of the title. It might be ugly but gets the job done with a minimal effort.

ggplot(diamonds, aes(clarity)) +
    geom_bar() +
    xlab("\nClarity") + ylab("Count\n")

Upvotes: 15

KimN
KimN

Reputation: 257

I am closing the question as the fix I made seems to hold for now (see below).

I found the following code in plot-render.r:64:

xlab_height <- grobHeight(xlabel) + 
  if (is.null(labels$x)) unit(0, "lines") else unit(0.5, "lines")
plot_table <- gtable_add_rows(plot_table, xlab_height)
plot_table <- gtable_add_grob(plot_table, xlabel, name = "xlab", 
  l = panel_dim$l, r = panel_dim$r, t = -1)

ylab_width <- grobWidth(ylabel) + 
  if (is.null(labels$y)) unit(0, "lines") else unit(0.5, "lines")
plot_table <- gtable_add_cols(plot_table, ylab_width, pos = 0)
plot_table <- gtable_add_grob(plot_table, ylabel, name = "ylab",
  l = 1, b = panel_dim$b, t = panel_dim$t)

which I changed to:

xlab_height <- grobHeight(xlabel) + 
  if (is.null(labels$x)) unit(0, "lines") else unit(0.5, "lines")
plot_table <- gtable_add_rows(plot_table, xlab_height)
plot_table <- gtable_add_grob(plot_table, xlabel, name = "xlab", 
  l = panel_dim$l, r = panel_dim$r, t = -1, clip = "off") <---- here

ylab_width <- grobWidth(ylabel) + 
  if (is.null(labels$y)) unit(0, "lines") else unit(0.5, "lines")
plot_table <- gtable_add_cols(plot_table, ylab_width, pos = 0)
plot_table <- gtable_add_grob(plot_table, ylabel, name = "ylab",
  l = 1, b = panel_dim$b, t = panel_dim$t, clip = "off") <---- here

This allows one to use the hjust/vjust combined with plot.margin to move the axis.titles without clipping.

On request I filled this a bug on github.

Upvotes: 7

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