I’ve got some opinions about how to write ggplot code.

They are based off of the official style guide, with a few of my own additions specific to ggplot2.

Starting with argument names / newlines

So, if there are more than two sections in a function, these should be separated on a newline. Ideally, all functions should have their argument names listed:

# good
my_fun(data = "bibbity",
       arg2 = "bobbity",
       arg3 = "boo")

# bad
my_fun(data = "bibbity", arg2 = "bobbity", arg3 = "boo")

with the exception of tidyverse and other code, that usually has the data as the first argument.

# good
my_fun(data,
       arg2 = "bobbity",
       arg3 = "boo")

# bad
my_fun(data, arg2 = "bobbity", arg3 = "boo")

ggplot2

Applying this same principle to ggplot2 code, we have the following, with the additional rule:

Continue indenting (e.g., the geom_, theme, and other subsequent calls after the +).

# good
ggplot(data = economics,
       mapping = aes(x = pop,
                     y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line()

You can use the mapping argument if you like, but it certainly isn’t necessary:

# also good
ggplot(economics, 
       aes(x = pop, 
           y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line()

But putting it onto one line, this is where I think it is not a good idea

# bad
ggplot(economics, aes(x = pop, y = unemploy)) + geom_line()

It is certainly great to be able to express the code so elegantly, but I’m just not that sold on the benefits.

Here are some other examples of ggplot2 code that doesn’t fit the style:

# bad
ggplot(economics, 
       aes(x = pop, 
           y = unemploy)) + geom_line() + theme_bw()

# bad
ggplot(economics, aes(pop, unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + theme_bw()

# also bad
ggplot(economics, 
       aes(pop, unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + theme_bw()

I prefer this type of code:

# good!
ggplot(economics, 
       aes(x = pop, 
           y = unemploy)) + 
  geom_line() + 
  theme_bw()

because I feel that it reads quicker - your eyes don’t have to scan as far along the width of the page.

It is also easier to edit and change your code to comment, like so:

library(lubridate)
ggplot(economics, 
       aes(x = pop, 
           y = unemploy
           # colour = ,
           )) + 
  geom_line() + 
  facet_wrap(~month(date)) + 
  # facet_wrap(~year(date)) + 
  theme_bw()

Fin

That’s it, that’s my opinion on ggplot2 code style: