Alternative way to call a variable in ggplot2 (R)?

Question

Is there a way to call a variable from a list using ggplot2? I am trying to create an interactive/all purpose script for a colleague.

This is how I usually plot something:

ggplot(df, aes(x = variable1)) + geom_histogram()

But for this script, I want something like:

plot_this_variable <- "variable1"
ggplot(df, aes(x = plot_this_variable)) + geom_histogram()

Is this possible? If so, how?

Edit:

Solution, use aes_string() instead of aes().

You can use aes_string(), which takes strings for the variable names instead of bare expressions. — Simon Woodward, Nov 03 '20 at 02:09

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '20 at 02:17

aes_string has been deprecated, you can either use sym with !! or use .data pronoun.

library(ggplot2)
#Using `sym`
ggplot(df, aes(x = !!sym(plot_this_variable)) + geom_histogram()

#Using .data
ggplot(df, aes(x = .data[[plot_this_variable]])) + geom_histogram()

However, .data is now the preferred way.

Alternative way to call a variable in ggplot2 (R)?

1 Answers1