ggplot inserting space before degree symbol on axis label

Question

I'd like to put a degree symbol on the x axis but the result has an extra space that I can't seem to get rid of. The text should read 'Temperature (*C)', not 'Temperature ( *C)'. I've tried two different solutions but can't seem to get rid of the space.

ggdat<-data.frame(x=rnorm(100),y=rnorm(100))

#neither of these approaches work
xlab <- expression(paste('Temperature (',~degree,'C)',sep=''))
xlab <- expression('Temperature ('*~degree*C*')')

ggplot(data=ggdat,aes(x=x,y=y)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(x=xlab)

Any help is appreciated!

Ben

Thanks David_B! Your code got rid of the space in front but for some reason there as a space after the C. But, this worked: `xlab = expression("Temperature " ( degree*C))` — Ben Carlson, May 31 '16 at 20:34

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '16 at 20:29

15

Do you need your xlabel to be an expression? You could try pasting it in directly. Something like this works:

set.seed(1)
ggdat<-data.frame(x=rnorm(100),y=rnorm(100))

xlab <- "Temperature (°C)"

ggplot(data=ggdat,aes(x=x,y=y)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(x=xlab)

answered May 31 '16 at 20:29

Mike H.

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Does not seem to work in my (up-to-date) R installation. Probably missing fonts? – AF7 Jul 13 '17 at 10:03
@AF7 It's probably and encoding issue, you could try `Encoding(xlab) – Mike H. Jul 13 '17 at 13:03
Does not seem to do anything: `Encoding(xlab) – AF7 Jul 13 '17 at 13:05
@AF7 Was this working for you before, but is now not working? I believe it's likely an encoding issue, but it's hard to tell without knowing what OS you're using (windows, linux, etc.). It might be helpful if you post a question with a reproducible example since it's difficult to debug without more information. Off the top of my head another option if you are using windows is to do `Sys.setlocale("LC_ALL", "English")`, but again it would likely be most useful to post a new question – Mike H. Jul 13 '17 at 13:22
I'm on Linux, and this has never worked, even when I tried it a couple of years ago. I'll try to find some time to post a question, thnaks – AF7 Jul 13 '17 at 13:24
@AF7 one last thought - that `Sys.setlocale()` that I posted may work for you on linux. Encoding in R can be a nightmare... – Mike H. Jul 13 '17 at 13:28
unfortunately it does not look like it works: `Sys.getlocale() [1] "C"` and when I try to change it: `Sys.setlocale("LC_ALL", "English") [1] "" Warning message: In Sys.setlocale("LC_ALL", "English") : OS reports request to set locale to "English" cannot be honored` – AF7 Jul 13 '17 at 13:29

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 09 '18 at 23:58

14

When using expression() the ~ symbol makes a space and the * symbol sticks things together. See code below:

ggdat<-data.frame(x=rnorm(100),y=rnorm(100))

ylab <- expression('stuck'*'together'*'eg:'*mu*'liter')
xlab <- expression('sep'~'par'~'at'~'ed'~'eg:'~mu~'liter')

ggplot(data=ggdat,aes(x=x,y=y)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(x=xlab,
       y=ylab)

edited Feb 09 '18 at 23:58

Mika Sundland

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answered Feb 09 '18 at 23:25

Robert Wagner

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ggplot inserting space before degree symbol on axis label

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