How to Set Axis Limits in ggplot2?

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How to Set Axis Limits in ggplot2?, ggplot2 can frequently be used to set the axis bounds on a plot. The following functions make it simple to accomplish this:

xlim(): defines the x-axis’s lowest and upper limits.

ylim(): defines the y-axis’s lower and upper limits.

Keep in mind that both of these approaches will eliminate data that is outside of the restrictions, which occasionally has unforeseen results.

Use coord_cartesian() instead to alter the axis bounds without losing data observations.

The coord_cartesian() function provides the x- and y-axis bounds without removing observations.

How to Set Axis Limits in ggplot2

Using the scatterplot below, which was created using the built-in R dataset mtcars, this tutorial demonstrates various uses for these functions.

Let’s load the library ggplot2

library(ggplot2)

Now we can create a simple scatterplot

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point()

Example 1: Set X-Axis Limits Using xlim()

Using the xlim() method, the scatterplot’s x-axis boundaries can be defined as seen in the following code:

make a scatterplot with an x-axis of 10 to 40.

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  xlim(10, 40)

Additionally, you can use NA to merely provide the upper limit of the x-axis and let ggplot2 determine the lower limit for you.

Now we can create a scatterplot with x-axis upper limit at 40

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  xlim(NA, 40)

Example 2: Set Y-Axis Limits Using ylim()

Using the ylim() method, the scatterplot’s y-axis boundaries can be defined as seen in the following code.

make a scatterplot using a 2 to 4 y-axis.

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  ylim(2, 4)

Warning message:
Removed 8 rows containing missing values (geom_point).

Now let’s try to create a scatterplot with y-axis lower limit at 2

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  xlim(2, NA)

Example 3: Set Axis Limits Using coord_cartesian()

The coord_cartesian() method is used to set the scatterplot’s y-axis bounds as shown in the following code.

generate a scatterplot with a 2–4 y-axis.

ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  coord_cartesian(xlim =c(10, 30), ylim = c(2, 4))

ggplot2 Guide