How to plot a barplot using ggplot

Question

                 average
Young          0.01921875
Cohoused Young 0.07111951
Old            0.06057224
Cohoused Old   0.12102273

I am using the above data frame to create a histogram or bar and my code is as follows:

C <-ggplot(data=c,aes(x=average))
C + geom_bar()

but the plot is attached here.

I would like the bar heights to reflect my data on the y axis instead of where the bar is placed on the x axis, but I don't know what my problem is in the code.

Please make sure your question is properly formatted, so it can be understood. Also, provide a minimal working example, so your problem can be reproduced. — thorepet
– thorepet, Commented May 15, 2020 at 19:37
To set the height of the bar to equal the value use geom_col() instead. geom_bar() set the height of the bar to the count of the items. — Dave2e
– Dave2e, Commented May 15, 2020 at 20:26

akrun · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-15 20:27:35Z

1

We can create a column with rownames_to_column

library(dplyr)
library(tibble)
library(ggplot2)
c %>%
    rownames_to_column('rn') %>%
    ggplot(aes(x = rn, y = average)) +
         geom_col()

Or create a column directly in base R

c$rn <- row.names(c)
ggplot(c, aes(x = rn, y = average)) +
     geom_col()

Or as @user20650 suggested

ggplot(data=c,aes(x=rownames(c) , y=average))

NOTE: It is better not to name objects with function names (c is a function)

In base R, with barplot, we can directly get the plots

barplot(as.matrix(c))

edited May 15, 2020 at 20:27

answered May 15, 2020 at 19:44

akrun

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5 Comments

LXJ Over a year ago

Thanks. With what I have in the data frame how can I make x = rownames and y = average without doing rownames_to_column?

akrun Over a year ago

@LXJ you can use barplot(c) directlly in base R. with tidyverse, you need a column. If you don't want to install tibble, then c$rn <- row.names(c) and then use ggplot(c, aes(x = rn, y = average)) + geom_col()

LXJ Over a year ago

Great, thanks! If I use rownames_to_column how can I change the order of the names? The bar created didn't have the order I wanted. For example, I want the order to be young, cohoused young, old, cohosued old but the bar has a completely different order.

akrun Over a year ago

@LXJ You can change the order with either fct_reorder from forcats or c$rn <- factor(row.names(c), levels = yourcustomorderlevels) where yourcustomorderlevels <- c("young", "cohoused young", "old", "cohosued old")

LXJ Over a year ago

Thanks @akrun! All of them are very informative suggestions

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