Save Plots

This lesson is called Save Plots, part of the R in 3 Months (Spring 2025) course. This lesson is called Save Plots, part of the R in 3 Months (Spring 2025) course.

Transcript

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# Load Packages -----------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)

# Import Data -------------------------------------------------------------

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")

# Save Plots --------------------------------------------------------------

# If you need to save a plot, you can use the ggsave() function.
# By default ggsave() will save the last plot you made.

# First we plot

ggplot(data = penguin_bill_length_by_island_and_sex,
       mapping = aes(x = island,
                     y = mean_bill_length,
                     fill = sex)) +
  geom_col(position = "dodge") +
  labs(title = "Males have longer bills than females",
       subtitle = "But they're all good penguins",
       caption = "Data from the palmerpenguins R package",
       x = NULL,
       y = "Mean Bill Length in Millimeters",
       fill = NULL) +
  theme_economist() +
  facet_grid(cols = vars(sex))

# Then we save

ggsave(filename = "plots/penguins-plot.png",
       height = 8,
       width = 11,
       units = "in",
       bg = "white",
       dpi = 300)

# We can save our plot to other formats as well. 
# PDF is a great option because it produces small file sizes 
# and high-quality plots. 
# You don't need to list dpi here as PDFs are vector based.

ggsave(filename = "plots/penguins-plot.pdf",
       height = 8,
       width = 11,
       units = "in")

# You can also save a plot and then use that within ggsave()

penguins_plot <- ggplot(data = penguin_bill_length_by_island_and_sex,
       mapping = aes(x = island,
                     y = mean_bill_length,
                     fill = sex)) +
  geom_col(position = "dodge") +
  labs(title = "Males have longer bills than females",
       subtitle = "But they're all good penguins",
       caption = "Data from the palmerpenguins R package",
       x = NULL,
       y = "Mean Bill Length in Millimeters",
       fill = NULL) +
  theme_economist() +
  facet_grid(cols = vars(sex))

penguins_plot

ggsave(plot = penguins_plot,
       filename = "plots/penguins-plot-2.pdf",
       height = 8,
       width = 11,
       units = "in")

Your Turn

# Load Packages -----------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)

# Import Data -------------------------------------------------------------

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")
			
penguin_weight_by_species_and_sex <- penguins |> 
  drop_na(sex) |> 
  group_by(species, sex) |> 
  summarize(mean_weight = mean(body_mass_g))
			
# Save Plots --------------------------------------------------------------

# Copy the code from your last plot
# Save it as 10cm wide by 20cm tall png file with a white background

# YOUR CODE HERE

Learn More

I have only showed you how to save plots by saving the last plot you made. You can also save a plot as an object and then use this object as an argument in your ggsave function. For more on doing that, see the relevant page from the Stat545 course by Jenny Bryan.

Save Plots

Transcript

Your Turn

Solution

Learn More

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