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
– geotheory, Commented Sep 24, 2018 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
– kentkr, Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 21:26

Yorgos · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-10 14:39:27Z

95

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, 2010 at 14:39

Yorgos

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3 Comments

hatmatrix Over a year ago

I see - so it doesn't scale each panel by by rows or columns... in the case facet_wrap() also works I guess.

Juan Over a year ago

How about plotting the same data but usign barplots? I asked just that here

landau Over a year ago

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.

teunbrand · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-09 07:09:43Z

85

Answer recommended by R Language Collective

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 9, 2022 at 7:09

teunbrand

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7 Comments

Dubukay Over a year ago

Very neat solution, nicely written package! Thanks!!

Joe Wasserman Over a year ago

This should be the accepted answer for this question. ggh4x is great, thank you!

BestGirl Over a year ago

Thank you so much for this. If I could upvote your answer (and your package) twice, I would!

Djork Over a year ago

Excellent extension, love the independent parameter!

Djork Over a year ago

I just discovered ggh4x from this answer, I think I'm a kid in the candy store... scale_colour_multi!

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jf328 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-21 15:53:24Z

40

You can't. See here

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

answered Mar 21, 2017 at 15:53

jf328

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Comments

Craig Forbes · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-26 02:29:59Z

22

Hopefully, this helps.

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

answered Oct 26, 2018 at 2:29

Craig Forbes

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Comments

Camilo Montes · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-13 14:05:46Z

2

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, 2022 at 14:05

Camilo Montes

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1 Comment

Roger-123 Over a year ago

It's helpful to show the actual code that should be used rather than just providing a link

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