change-the-spacing-between-legend-items.R

library(ggplot2)
p1 <- ggplot(mtcars) +
  aes(x = cyl, fill = factor(cyl)) +
  geom_bar() +
  scale_fill_brewer("Cyl", palette = "Dark2") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 14) +
  theme(legend.key = element_rect(color = NA, fill = NA),
        legend.key.size = unit(1.5, "cm")) +
  theme(legend.title.align = 0.5)
p1

draw_key_polygon3 <- function(data, params, size) {
  lwd <- min(data$size, min(size) / 4)
  
  grid::rectGrob(
    width = grid::unit(0.8, "npc"),
    height = grid::unit(0.8, "npc"),
    gp = grid::gpar(
      col = data$colour,
      fill = alpha(data$fill, data$alpha),
      lty = data$linetype,
      lwd = lwd * .pt,
      linejoin = "mitre"
    ))
}

# register new key drawing function, 
# the effect is global & persistent throughout the R session
GeomBar$draw_key = draw_key_polygon3


ggplot(mtcars) +
  aes(x = cyl, fill = factor(cyl)) +
  geom_bar() +
  scale_fill_brewer("Cyl", palette = "Dark2") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 14) +
  theme(legend.key = element_rect(color = NA, fill = NA),
        legend.key.size = unit(1.5, "cm")) +
  theme(legend.title.align = 0.5)

##ref https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11366964/is-there-a-way-to-change-the-spacing-between-legend-items-in-ggplot2