Cowplot
Saurav Das
February 8, 2020
library(ggplot2)Ever wondered if you can put multiple plots in different alignment as plot-grids.
Cowplot is something which can do that for you.
Lets make some plots and see how we can arrange them using cow plot.
For plotting we are going to use inbuilt R dataset : mtcars
mtcars## mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
## Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
## Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
## Datsun 710 22.8 4 108.0 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
## Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
## Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
## Valiant 18.1 6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1
## Duster 360 14.3 8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84 0 0 3 4
## Merc 240D 24.4 4 146.7 62 3.69 3.190 20.00 1 0 4 2
## Merc 230 22.8 4 140.8 95 3.92 3.150 22.90 1 0 4 2
## Merc 280 19.2 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30 1 0 4 4
## Merc 280C 17.8 6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90 1 0 4 4
## Merc 450SE 16.4 8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SL 17.3 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60 0 0 3 3
## Merc 450SLC 15.2 8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00 0 0 3 3
## Cadillac Fleetwood 10.4 8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98 0 0 3 4
## Lincoln Continental 10.4 8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82 0 0 3 4
## Chrysler Imperial 14.7 8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42 0 0 3 4
## Fiat 128 32.4 4 78.7 66 4.08 2.200 19.47 1 1 4 1
## Honda Civic 30.4 4 75.7 52 4.93 1.615 18.52 1 1 4 2
## Toyota Corolla 33.9 4 71.1 65 4.22 1.835 19.90 1 1 4 1
## Toyota Corona 21.5 4 120.1 97 3.70 2.465 20.01 1 0 3 1
## Dodge Challenger 15.5 8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87 0 0 3 2
## AMC Javelin 15.2 8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30 0 0 3 2
## Camaro Z28 13.3 8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41 0 0 3 4
## Pontiac Firebird 19.2 8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05 0 0 3 2
## Fiat X1-9 27.3 4 79.0 66 4.08 1.935 18.90 1 1 4 1
## Porsche 914-2 26.0 4 120.3 91 4.43 2.140 16.70 0 1 5 2
## Lotus Europa 30.4 4 95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90 1 1 5 2
## Ford Pantera L 15.8 8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50 0 1 5 4
## Ferrari Dino 19.7 6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50 0 1 5 6
## Maserati Bora 15.0 8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60 0 1 5 8
## Volvo 142E 21.4 4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60 1 1 4 21st plot:mpg vs cyl
ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, mpg)) + geom_point()
2nd plot: disp vs hp
ggplot(mtcars, aes(hp, disp)) + geom_point()
3rd plot: hp vs cyl
ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, hp)) + geom_point()
Now lets say we want all the three graphs in one plot or in a grid lets give name to each plots so that we can order/arrange them accordingly
P <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, mpg)) + geom_point()
Q <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(hp, disp)) + geom_point()
R <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, hp)) + geom_point()Now we have renamed all the three graphs, we can use cowplot package to arrange them. for that we need to load the library of cowplot if you had already installed the pacakge or if you dont have then you have to install the package and then load the library.
library(cowplot)##
## ********************************************************## Note: As of version 1.0.0, cowplot does not change the## default ggplot2 theme anymore. To recover the previous## behavior, execute:
## theme_set(theme_cowplot())## ********************************************************Now we will use plot_grid function to arrange the graphs accordingly 1. Arranging the plot
plot_grid(P, Q, R, labels = "auto") #you can rename the labels accordingly or you can put auto which will name them automatically.
- Now lets say you dont want auto labels, you want to name them specifically. So we will change the labels to P, Q and R to name them accordingly.
plot_grid(P, Q, R, labels = c("P", "Q", "R"))
- Now lets say you want all the three graphs in one single strips. so we will use ncol function to do that. we will make three columns to fit three graphs in one plate
plot_grid(P, Q, R, labels=c("P", "Q", "R"), ncol=3)
- Now lets say you want to change the labels size for all the graphs. For that you can use labels size function and accordingly modify the size.
plot_grid(P, Q, R, labels=c("P", "Q", "R"), ncol=3, label_size = 12)
- Now how about plotting all the three graphs in vertical direction rather than horizontal. For that we will use “nrow” function instead of ncol.
plot_grid(P, Q, R, labels=c("P", "Q", "R"), nrow=3)
Hope this will be helpful. If you have any more specific question you type in the comments.