ggplot2 theme with no axes or grid

Question

I am trying to make a plot with no information beyond the data. No axes; no grid; no title; just the plot.

But I keep getting extra margins and padding that I can't remove.

library(ggplot2)
library(grid)

theme_bare <- theme(
  axis.line = element_blank(), 
  axis.text.x = element_blank(), 
  axis.text.y = element_blank(),
  axis.ticks = element_blank(), 
  axis.title.x = element_blank(), 
  axis.title.y = element_blank(), 
  #axis.ticks.length = unit(0, "lines"), # Error 
  axis.ticks.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines"), 
  legend.position = "none", 
  panel.background = element_rect(fill = "gray"), 
  panel.border = element_blank(), 
  panel.grid.major = element_blank(), 
  panel.grid.minor = element_blank(), 
  panel.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines"), 
  plot.background = element_rect(fill = "blue"),
  plot.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines")
)

ggplot() + 
  geom_area (data=economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy), linetype=0) +
  theme_bare

Produces this image: plot

What I want is this: plot ideal

I can't figure out how to get rid of the blue and make the dark gray flush with the edges.

Could any one offer some advice?

For the second part, you'll want to add `scale_*_*(expand = c(0,0))` for each axis. — joran, Jan 14 '13 at 04:28
@joran: SO I tried adding `+ scale_x_continuous(expand = c(0,0)) + scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0,0))`, but it says `Discrete value supplied to continuous scale` whether I use continuous or discrete. — sharoz, Jan 14 '13 at 04:56
As a heads up, setting Date to numeric and applying the two `scale_*_*(expand = c(0,0))` functions removes the grey on the outside of the graph, but does nothing for the blue. — sebastian-c, Jan 14 '13 at 05:24

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 21 '17 at 05:05

36

Here is the way to plot only the panel region:

p <- ggplot() + geom_area (data=economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy), linetype=0) +
  scale_x_date(expand = c(0,0)) + scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0,0)) +
  theme(line = element_blank(),
        text = element_blank(),
        title = element_blank())

gt <- ggplot_gtable(ggplot_build(p))
ge <- subset(gt$layout, name == "panel")

grid.draw(gt[ge$t:ge$b, ge$l:ge$r])

enter image description here

edited Jun 21 '17 at 05:05

Community

1
1

answered Jan 14 '13 at 11:00

kohske

65,572
8
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2

This worked. Thanks! Out of curiosity, what is the best place to find info on some of these less-documented ggplot functions? – sharoz Jan 14 '13 at 11:42
4

Does `line = element_blank()` really needs to go twice? :-/ – Waldir Leoncio Jul 24 '13 at 20:31
2

a bit more concise, `grid::grid.draw(gtable::gtable_filter(ggplotGrob(p), "panel"))` – baptiste Mar 01 '16 at 23:13

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 01 '16 at 22:14

32

From ggplot2_2.0.0 you can use theme_void:

ggplot() + 
  geom_area(data = economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy), linetype = 0) +
  theme_void()

answered Mar 01 '16 at 22:14

Henrik

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there's still some space around the plot – baptiste Mar 01 '16 at 22:22
@baptiste Thanks for pointing this out. I was focusing on the "_No axes; no grid; no title;_" part of the question. – Henrik Mar 01 '16 at 22:24
A minor note, this approach doesn't seem to work with `ggtext::element_markdown()` (it causes the html not to render, so instead you get raw html as text overlaid on the image) – stevec May 11 '20 at 08:27

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 07:53

10

try

last_plot() + theme(axis.ticks.length = unit(0.001, "mm")) + labs(x=NULL, y=NULL)

you may want to file a bug for the 0 tick length.

answered Jan 14 '13 at 07:53

baptiste

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score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 22 '21 at 07:32

-1

If you just want to remove the grid in theme_bw(), you can use:

+ theme_bw() + theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), panel.grid.minor = element_blank())

answered Jul 22 '21 at 07:32

Minstein

542
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ggplot2 theme with no axes or grid

4 Answers4

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