ggplot function for integer breaks (old so solution not working)

Question

library(tidyverse)
df <- tibble(col1 = c("A", "B"), col2 = c(0.4, 0.7))
#> # A tibble: 2 x 2
#>   col1   col2
#>   <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 A       0.4
#> 2 B       0.7

ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + geom_col()

A ggplot of the data frame above looks like this, with breaks that include decimal numbers.

There are multiple methods for specifying integer breaks from this stackoverflow question. None of them seem to do what I want. I want there to be two breaks, one at 0 and the other at 1. How do I modify one of these functions below to accomplish that?

# Attempt 1 
ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(
    breaks = function(x) unique(floor(pretty(seq(0, (max(x) + 1) * 1.1)))))

# Attempt 2
ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = scales::pretty_breaks(2))

# Attempt 3
ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = c(0, 1))

# Attempt 4
ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(
    breaks = function(x) seq(ceiling(x[1]), floor(x[2]), by = 1))

# Attempt 5
ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(
    breaks = 
      function(x, n = 5)  pretty(x, n)[round(pretty(x, n),1) %% 1 == 0])

Most of the attempts above produce the plot below. None produce what I want. Notice the break for 1 is missing.

Try adding `limits = c(0,1)` to your scale_y_continuous. It is probably because your max value is 0.7, the breaks argument does nothing to the scale of the axis, just the breaks. So you do have the breaks 0 and 1, 1 is just outside the range of the axis — NotThatKindODr, May 20 '20 at 13:26
...making it `scale_y_continuous(breaks = c(0, 1), limits = c(0, 1))` — Gregor Thomas, May 20 '20 at 13:29
@Gregor Thomas I'm trying to go with a programmatic solution if possible, because I won't have the ability to manually change the breaks and limits for each data frame this will get run on. Some will need breaks at `0` and `1`, many will not. — Display name, May 20 '20 at 13:46
It seems like there are two issues then - (a) making your `breaks` only use integers, and (b) adjusting the limits so that... could use some more specificity here. In your example, you got 1 integer break at 0, but that's not good. Do you always want the scale to include at least 2 breaks? Always start at 0? Anything else? — Gregor Thomas, May 20 '20 at 13:58
this post can demonstrate what I need in a better fashion https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61915427/ggplot-integer-breaks-on-facets — Display name, May 20 '20 at 15:13

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 20 '20 at 13:29

3

That's because your y-axis is not going far enough to see the break at 1, it's actually there, you just don't see it :) Simply adjusting the y-axis limits should fix it.

Here's a simple solution:

ggplot(df, aes(col1, col2)) + 
  geom_col() + 
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = c(0, 1), limits = c(0, 1))

answered May 20 '20 at 13:29

milanmlft

411
3
14

This works but I'm trying to avoid manual solutions. Can this be done modifying the functions in my attempts? I need it to work on a wide variety of data frames (with limits other than 0 and 1), not just this specific one (but would need to work on this one as well). – Display name May 20 '20 at 13:47
1

But so in each case you want just 2 breaks? And if the values are 3 and 9, for example (like you wrote in your edited post), where should the breaks be? You'll need some general rule to modify the limits in each case I guess. Note that it's also possible to provide a function to `limits = ` to adapt the existing ones (see `?scale_y_continuous` for more details) – milanmlft May 20 '20 at 13:59
new post is here hopefully is clearer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61915427/ggplot-integer-breaks-on-facets – Display name May 20 '20 at 15:13

ggplot function for integer breaks (old so solution not working)

1 Answers1