Search code examples
rggplot2plotmath

r ggplot use plotmath expressions dynamically


I want to change axis labels dynamically using ggplot. The code below is a simple version of what I'd like to do. It correctly displays a degree symbol in the y axis.The commented out ylab lines of code are what I'd like to do but fail. I want to create the plotmath code, assign it to a variable (e.g. yLabel) and then have ggplot interpret it.

library(data.table)
library(ggplot2)

DT <- data.table(timeStamp=c(1:12), ColN1=runif(12, 0, 10))
DT.long <- data.table::melt(
  DT, id.vars = c("timeStamp"))

yLabel <- "Temperature~(~degree~F)"
yLabel1 <- expression("Temperature~(~degree~F)")

p <- ggplot(data = DT.long, aes(x = timeStamp, y = value)) + 
  xlab("Time") + 
  #    ylab( expression(paste("Value is ", yLabel,","))) +
#  ylab(yLabel) +
#  ylab(yLabel1) +
  ylab(Temperature~(~degree~F)) +

    scale_y_continuous() +
  theme_bw() +
  geom_line()
print(p)

Solution

  • Use bquote

    Here is your dynamic component

    temp <- 12
    

    Assign it to the label using

    ylab(bquote(Temperature ~is ~ .(temp) ~(degree~F)))
    

    Or to address your additional question below

    V = "Temperature is ("~degree~"F)"
    W = "depth is ("~degree~"C)"
    
    ggplot(data = DT.long, aes(x = timeStamp, y = value)) + 
      xlab("Time") +
      ylab(bquote(.(V)))
    
    ggplot(data = DT.long, aes(x = timeStamp, y = value)) + 
      xlab("Time") +
      ylab(bquote(.(W)))