Saving a list of plots by their names()

Question

Let's say I have a list of plots that I've created.

library(ggplot2)
plots <- list()
plots$a <- ggplot(cars, aes(speed, dist)) + geom_point()
plots$b <- ggplot(cars, aes(speed)) + geom_histogram()
plots$c <- ggplot(cars, aes(dist)) + geom_histogram()

Now, I would like to save all of these, labelling each with their respective names(plots) element.

lapply(plots, 
       function(x) { 
         ggsave(filename=paste(...,".jpeg",sep=""), plot=x)
         dev.off()
         }
       )

What would I replace "..." with such that in my working directory the plots were saved as:

a.jpeg
b.jpeg
c.jpeg

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 15 '11 at 01:46

22

probably you need to pass the names of list:

lapply(names(plots), 
  function(x)ggsave(filename=paste(x,".jpeg",sep=""), plot=plots[[x]]))

answered Jul 15 '11 at 01:46

kohske

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2

+1 and accept for sheer simplicity. It's a head slapping moment for me. Thanks Koshke! – Brandon Bertelsen Jul 15 '11 at 01:56

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 24 '20 at 21:00

@kohske's answer is sensational! Below is the purrr 0.3.4 version for those who may prefer working within tidyverse. Also, a temporary directory is created to hold the plots since ggsave defaults to saving to the working directory.

map(names(plots), function(.x) {
    ggsave(
        path = "tmp/",
        filename = paste0(.x, ".png"),
        plot = plots[[.x]]
        )
    })

Saving a list of plots by their names()

2 Answers2

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