How do I change the geom plotting order in legend only?

ggplot2, legend, r

Solution

Quick and dirty. To get the correct plotting order in both figure and legend, add the layers like this: (1) `geom_pointrange`, (2) `geom_line`, and then (3) a second `geom_pointrange` without legend (`show.legend = FALSE`).

ggplot(md.figd2, aes(x = date, y = means, group = trt)) +
  geom_pointrange(aes(ymin = mins, ymax = maxes, color = trt),
                  position = position_dodge(width = 5), size = 2) +
  geom_line(aes(linetype = trt), size = 1) +
  geom_pointrange(aes(ymin = mins, ymax = maxes, color = trt),
                  position = position_dodge(width = 5), size = 2,
                  show.legend = FALSE) +
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0,1), breaks = seq(0,1, 0.2), name = 'Proportion mass lost') +
  scale_x_date(limits = as.Date(c('2013-05-23', '2013-10-03')), name = 'Date') +
  scale_color_manual(values = c('grey20', 'grey50', 'grey80')) +
  scale_linetype_manual(values = c('solid', 'dotted', 'dashed'))

Problem

I am making a plot in ggplot2 that contains a `geom_pointrange` and a `geom_line`. I see that when I change the order of the geoms, either the points are plotted on top of the line, or vice versa. The legend also changes which geom is plotted on top of the other based on the same ordering of the geoms. However, I would like for the line to plot first, then the pointrange on top, in the plot itself, with the opposite in the legend. Is this possible? I would greatly appreciate any input. Here is the code I used to make the figure. ``` md.figd2 <- structure(list(date = c("2013-05-28", "2013-07-11", "2013-09-22", "2013-05-28", "2013-07-11", "2013-09-22", "2013-05-28", "2013-07-11", "2013-09-22"), trt = structure(c(3L, 3L, 3L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L), .Label = c("- Fescue", "- Random", "Control"), class = "factor"), means = c(1, 0.921865257043089, 0.793438250521971, 1, 0.878305313846414, 0.85698797555687, 1, 0.840679145697309, 0.798547331410388 ), mins = c(1, 0.87709562979756, 0.72278951032918, 1, 0.816185624483356, 0.763720265496049, 1, 0.780804129401513, 0.717089626439849 ), maxes = c(1, 0.966634884288619, 0.864086990714762, 1, 0.940425003209472, 0.950255685617691, 1, 0.900554161993105, 0.880005036380927)), .Names = c("date", "trt", "means", "mins", "maxes"), row.names = c(NA, 9L), class = "data.frame") library(ggplot2) dplot1.ysc <- scale_y_continuous(limits=c(0,1), breaks=seq(0,1,.2), name='Proportion mass lost') dplot1.xsc <- scale_x_date(limits=as.Date(c('2013-05-23', '2013-10-03')), labels=c('May 28', 'July 11', 'Sep 22'), breaks=md.figdata$date, name='Date') dplot1.csc <- scale_color_manual(values=c('grey20','grey50','grey80')) dplot1.lsc <- scale_linetype_manual(values=c('solid','dotted','dashed')) djitter <- rep(c(0,-1,1), each=3) # This one produces the plot with the legend I want. dplot1b <- ggplot(md.figd2, aes(x=date + djitter, y=means, group=trt)) + geom_pointrange(aes(ymin=mins, ymax=maxes, color=trt), size=2) + geom_line(aes(linetype=trt), size=1) # This one produces the plot with the points on the main plot that I want. dplot1b <- ggplot(md.figd2, aes(x=date + djitter, y=means, group=trt)) + geom_line(aes(linetype=trt), size=1) + geom_pointrange(aes(ymin=mins, ymax=maxes, color=trt), size=2) dplot1b + dplot1.xsc + dplot1.ysc + dplot1.csc + dplot1.lsc ```

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