ggplot2 add straight lines to a plot : horizontal, vertical and regression lines


This tutorial describes how to add one or more straight lines to a graph generated using R software and ggplot2 package.

The R functions below can be used :

  • geom_hline() for horizontal lines
  • geom_abline() for regression lines
  • geom_vline() for vertical lines
  • geom_segment() to add segments

geom_hline : Add horizontal lines

A simplified format of the function geom_hline() is :

geom_hline(yintercept, linetype, color, size)

It draws a horizontal line on the current plot at the specified ‘y’ coordinates :

library(ggplot2)
# Simple scatter plot
sp <- ggplot(data=mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg)) + geom_point()
# Add horizontal line at y = 2O
sp + geom_hline(yintercept=20)
# Change line type and color
sp + geom_hline(yintercept=20, linetype="dashed", color = "red")
# Change line size
sp + geom_hline(yintercept=20, linetype="dashed", 
                color = "red", size=2)

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

Read more on line types here : Line types in R

geom_vline : Add vertical lines

A simplified format of the function geom_vline() is :

geom_vline(xintercept, linetype, color, size)

It draws a vertical line on the current plot at the specified ‘x’ coordinates :

library(ggplot2)
# Add a vertical line at x = 3
sp + geom_vline(xintercept = 3)
# Change line type, color and size
sp + geom_vline(xintercept = 3, linetype="dotted", 
                color = "blue", size=1.5)

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

geom_abline : Add regression lines

A simplified format of the function geom_abline() is :

geom_abline(intercept, slope, linetype, color, size)

The function lm() is used to fit linear models.

# Fit regression line
require(stats)
reg<-lm(mpg ~ wt, data = mtcars)
reg
## 
## Call:
## lm(formula = mpg ~ wt, data = mtcars)
## 
## Coefficients:
## (Intercept)           wt  
##      37.285       -5.344
coeff=coefficients(reg)
# Equation of the line : 
eq = paste0("y = ", round(coeff[2],1), "*x + ", round(coeff[1],1))
# Plot
sp + geom_abline(intercept = 37, slope = -5)+
  ggtitle(eq)
# Change line type, color and size
sp + geom_abline(intercept = 37, slope = -5, color="red", 
                 linetype="dashed", size=1.5)+
  ggtitle(eq)

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

Note that, the function stat_smooth() can be used for fitting smooth models to data.

sp + stat_smooth(method="lm", se=FALSE)

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

geom_segment : Add a line segment

A simplified format of the function geom_segment() is :

geom_segment(aes(x, y, xend, yend))

It’s possible to use it as follow :

# Add a vertical line segment
sp + geom_segment(aes(x = 4, y = 15, xend = 4, yend = 27))
# Add horizontal line segment
sp + geom_segment(aes(x = 2, y = 15, xend = 3, yend = 15))

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

Note that, you can add an arrow at the end of the segment. grid package is required

library(grid)
sp + geom_segment(aes(x = 5, y = 30, xend = 3.5, yend = 25),
                  arrow = arrow(length = unit(0.5, "cm")))

add straight lines to a plot using R statistical software and ggplot2

Infos

This analysis has been performed using R software (ver. 3.1.2) and ggplot2 (ver. )


Enjoyed this article? I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook or Linked In.

Show me some love with the like buttons below... Thank you and please don't forget to share and comment below!!
Avez vous aimé cet article? Je vous serais très reconnaissant si vous aidiez à sa diffusion en l'envoyant par courriel à un ami ou en le partageant sur Twitter, Facebook ou Linked In.

Montrez-moi un peu d'amour avec les like ci-dessous ... Merci et n'oubliez pas, s'il vous plaît, de partager et de commenter ci-dessous!





This page has been seen 1291740 times