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ggguides

GitHub stars R-CMD-check Codecov test coverage License: MIT

Simplified legend and guide alignment for ggplot2.

Installation

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("gcol33/ggguides")

Overview

ggguides provides one-liner functions for common legend operations in ggplot2:

Examples

Position Helpers

library(ggplot2)
library(ggguides)

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point(size = 3) +
  labs(color = "Cylinders")

legend_left() / legend_right()

Position with proper alignment (sets justification and box.just together):

p + legend_left()
p + legend_right()

legend_top() / legend_bottom()

Horizontal layout with optional plot alignment:

p + legend_top()
p + legend_bottom()

# Align to full plot (useful with titles)
p + labs(title = "My Title") + legend_top(align_to = "plot")

legend_inside()

Position inside the plot using coordinates or shortcuts:

# Using shortcuts
p + legend_inside(position = "topright")
p + legend_inside(position = "bottomleft")

# Using coordinates
p + legend_inside(x = 0.95, y = 0.95, just = c("right", "top"))

# With custom styling
p + legend_inside(position = "center", background = "grey95", border = "grey50")

legend_none()

Remove the legend entirely:

p + legend_none()

Style Helpers

legend_style()

Comprehensive styling in one call:

# Change font size - affects both title and labels
p + legend_style(size = 14)

# Change font family
p + legend_style(family = "serif")
p + legend_style(family = "mono")

# Combine size and family
p + legend_style(size = 14, family = "serif")

# Full styling with title emphasis
p + legend_style(
  size = 12,
  title_size = 14,
  title_face = "bold",
  key_width = 1.5,
  background = "grey95",
  background_color = "grey70",
  margin = 0.3
)

legend_wrap()

Wrap legend entries into columns or rows:

ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy, color = class)) +
  geom_point() +
  legend_wrap(ncol = 2)

# Or by rows
ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy, color = class)) +
  geom_point() +
  legend_wrap(nrow = 2)

legend_reverse()

Reverse legend entry order:

p + legend_reverse()

Multiple Legends

When a plot has multiple aesthetics, control each legend separately:

legend_hide() / legend_select()

Hide specific legends or keep only certain ones:

# Plot with multiple aesthetics
p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, color = factor(cyl), size = hp)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(color = "Cylinders", size = "Horsepower")

# Hide the size legend
p + legend_hide(size)

# Keep only the colour legend
p + legend_select(colour)

Position legends separately

Use the by parameter to position legends independently:

# Colour legend on left, size legend at bottom
p +
  legend_left(by = "colour") +
  legend_bottom(by = "size")

Style legends separately

Apply different styles to different legends:

p +
  legend_style(title_face = "bold", by = "colour") +
  legend_style(size = 10, by = "size")

legend_order_guides()

Control the display order of multiple legends:

# Size legend first, then colour
p + legend_order_guides(size = 1, colour = 2)

Patchwork Integration

collect_legends()

Collect legends from patchwork compositions:

library(patchwork)

p1 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 1")
p2 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, hp, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 2")

# Without collection (duplicate legends)
p1 | p2

# With collection
collect_legends(p1 | p2)

# Position at bottom
collect_legends(p1 | p2, position = "bottom")

Height Spanning

For stacked plots, use span = TRUE to make the legend span the full height. Using different plot heights makes the spanning behavior more visible:

library(patchwork)

p3 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, disp, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 3")

# Stack with different heights: 4, 2, 1
stacked <- (p1 / p2 / p3) + plot_layout(heights = c(4, 2, 1))

# Default: legend centered
collect_legends(stacked, position = "right")

# With spanning: legend fills full height
gt <- collect_legends(stacked, position = "right", span = TRUE)
grid::grid.draw(gt)

Row-Specific Attachment

Attach the legend to specific rows instead of spanning all:

# Attach legend to row 1 only (the tallest plot)
gt <- collect_legends(stacked, position = "right", span = 1)
grid::grid.draw(gt)

# Attach legend to rows 1 and 2
gt <- collect_legends(stacked, position = "right", span = 1:2)
grid::grid.draw(gt)

Combining Functions

Functions compose naturally:

ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy, color = class)) +
  geom_point() +
  legend_left() +
  legend_style(size = 12, title_face = "bold", background = "grey95")

ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy, color = class)) +
  geom_point() +
  legend_wrap(ncol = 2) +
  legend_bottom()

cowplot / Base Grid Support

ggguides also works without patchwork for cowplot users or anyone using base grid:

get_legend()

Extract a legend as a standalone grob:

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(color = "Cylinders")

# Extract the legend
leg <- get_legend(p)

# Use with cowplot::plot_grid() or grid::grid.draw()
grid::grid.draw(leg)

shared_legend()

Combine plots with a shared legend (no patchwork required):

p1 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 1", color = "Cylinders")
p2 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, hp, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 2", color = "Cylinders")
p3 <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, disp, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point() + labs(title = "Plot 3", color = "Cylinders")

# Side-by-side with shared legend
gt <- shared_legend(p1, p2, ncol = 2, position = "right")
grid::grid.draw(gt)

# Stacked with legend at bottom
gt <- shared_legend(p1, p2, p3, ncol = 1, position = "bottom")
grid::grid.draw(gt)

# 2x2 grid
gt <- shared_legend(p1, p2, p3, p1, ncol = 2, nrow = 2, position = "right")
grid::grid.draw(gt)

All ggguides styling functions (legend_style(), legend_wrap(), etc.) work on individual plots regardless of layout package.

License

MIT

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.