ggplot2, facet_grid, free scales?

Question

In the following example, how do I get the y-axis limits to scale according to the data in each panel?

mt <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, colour = factor(cyl))) + geom_point()

Neither of these will do it:

mt + facet_grid(. ~ cyl, scales="free")
mt + facet_grid(. ~ cyl, scales="free_y")

Anyone have any idea what the intended purpose is of the `scales` argument for `facet_grid`? — geotheory, Sep 24 '18 at 13:41
@geotheory it's in the docs. The scales argument is for freeing the x, y, or both scales for each facetted plot. Your options are 'fixed' (default), 'free_x', 'free_y', or 'free' for both. Use it when the ranges of your variables vary greatly and need to be freed. — kentkr, Apr 09 '21 at 21:26

score 91 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 10 '10 at 14:39

91

Perhaps it's because you have only one y axis, using your way. Did you try something like this?

mt + facet_grid(cyl ~ ., scales="free")

answered Sep 10 '10 at 14:39

gd047

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I see - so it doesn't scale each panel by by rows or columns... in the case facet_wrap() also works I guess. – hatmatrix Sep 10 '10 at 15:20
How about plotting the same data but usign barplots? I asked just that [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29262916/how-i-get-a-facet-grid-plot-with-free-scales-and-barplots-with-ggplot2) – Juan Mar 25 '15 at 17:52
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I feel this does not resolve the issue. I am having the same problem, and all "cyl ~ ." did was flip the axes. Now, the x axis is what I want to be free, but it is not free. I am using R version 3.2.3 with ggplot2 version 2.1.0. – landau Mar 26 '16 at 17:45

score 39 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 15:53

39

You can't. See here

You can use facet_wrap instead, which will 'free' both axes

answered Mar 21 '17 at 15:53

jf328

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score 37 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 09 '22 at 07:09

37

I'm sorry for jumping on this 12 year old question with a new answer, but I think it might be useful. If you want to preserve the grid layout, but want wrap-like free scales, you might be interested in ggh4x::facet_grid2() which has an independent argument that lets an axis vary within a row or column in a grid-layout.

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, colour = factor(cyl))) + 
  geom_point() +
  ggh4x::facet_grid2(. ~ cyl, scales = "free_y", independent = "y")

^{Created on 2022-06-09 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)}

(Disclaimer: I'm the author of ggh4x)

answered Jun 09 '22 at 07:09

teunbrand

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Very neat solution, nicely written package! Thanks!! – Dubukay Aug 12 '22 at 20:36
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This should be the accepted answer for this question. ggh4x is great, thank you! – Joe Wasserman Oct 26 '22 at 01:37
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Thank you so much for this. If I could upvote your answer (and your package) twice, I would! – BestGirl Jan 13 '23 at 10:45
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Excellent extension, love the `independent` parameter! – Djork Feb 14 '23 at 15:54
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I just discovered `ggh4x` from this answer, I think I'm a kid in the candy store... `scale_colour_multi`! – Djork Feb 14 '23 at 16:00

score 21 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 26 '18 at 02:29

21

Hopefully, this helps.

mt + facet_wrap(. ~ cyl, scales="free_y")

answered Oct 26 '18 at 02:29

Craig Forbes

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 13 '22 at 14:05

1

Try: https://teunbrand.github.io/ggh4x/reference/facet_grid2.html.

This code allows to make the scales of each panel independent using facet_grid, but with facet_grid2.

answered May 13 '22 at 14:05

Camilo Montes

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It's helpful to show the actual code that should be used rather than just providing a link – Roger-123 May 16 '22 at 21:04

ggplot2, facet_grid, free scales?

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