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rggplot2ggrepel

align variable width font strings in ggplot2 ggrepel geom_label_repel

I am trying to use multiple line labels in ggrepel::geom_label_repel. It seems like the geom_label_repel wants to center all text - whereas I want to flush it left. hjust = 0 does what I want with geom_label, but not with geom_label_repel. I created a function to do what I want by inserting spaces - but it will only work with monospace fonts.

Is there a way to get geom_label_repel to align left with variable width fonts?

library(tidyverse)
library(ggrepel)
site_timeline_dfx <- tribble(
  ~startDate, ~endDate, ~Event,
  1984, NA,   "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sed, vestibulum, in lacinia erat arcu. Quis magnis sed phasellus ac",
  2001, NA,  "Vel cursus hac in. Nulla cum quam cum, amet tellus hendrerit.",
  2008, 2009, "Adipiscing ut pellentesque malesuada sit venenatis integer proin sapien. Scelerisque ipsum ut.")

my_xwrapFun = function(x, width = 75){
   x_wrap <- strwrap(x, width = width)
   i <- length(x_wrap)
   max_strln <- max(str_length(x_wrap))
   x_wrap <- encodeString(x_wrap, width = width, justify ="l")
   paste(x_wrap, collapse = "\n")
}

site_timeline_dfx <- 
  group_by(site_timeline_dfx, Event) %>% 
  mutate(Event_wrap = my_xwrapFun(Event))

ggplot(site_timeline_dfx, aes(x = startDate, y = 0.5, label  = Event_wrap)) + geom_point() + 
  geom_label(hjust = 0, size = 2) +
  xlim(c(1984,2050))

enter image description here

ggplot(site_timeline_dfx, aes(x = startDate, y = 0.5, label  = Event_wrap)) + geom_point() + 
  geom_label_repel(hjust = 0, size = 2) +
  xlim(c(1984,2050))

enter image description here

ggplot(site_timeline_dfx, aes(x = startDate, y = 0.5, label  = Event_wrap)) + geom_point() + 
  geom_label_repel(hjust = 0, size = 2, family = "mono") +
  xlim(c(1984,2050))

enter image description here

Solution

  • This has been fixed in the development version of ggrepel (version 0.8.1.9000).

    Your code should now work as expected.

    devtools::install_github("slowkow/ggrepel")

ggplot(site_timeline_dfx, aes(x = startDate, y = 0.5, label  = Event_wrap)) + 
  geom_point() + 
  geom_label_repel(hjust = 0, direction="y") +
  xlim(c(1984,2050))