How to fix ggtext´s rendering of combining characters like Ě or Ö?

Question

I have an issue with my labels using **ggtext**, if I use combining characters like ĚŠČŘŽ or ÖÜÄ, element_markdown() will add additional spaces/render whitespace behind my text. My code looks like this:

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)
library(ggtext)

df_x <- c(runif(6, min = 1, max = 2)) 
df_y <- c(rep("A", 3), rep("B", 3))
df_lab <- c("Čžěčh Přóblém", "Gërmän pröbëm töö", as.character(1:4))

tibble(df_x, df_y, df_lab) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = df_x, y = df_y, fill = df_lab)) +
  geom_bar(position = "stack", stat = "identity") + 
  theme(legend.text = element_markdown())

I believe this to be a very basic issue, but could not find anything on how to handle this problem.

Picture:

I can't see the issue on my device. I'm on Fedora 35 with R 4.1.3, ggplot2 3.3.5, and ggtext 0.1.1 — shs, Mar 28 '22 at 12:45
It would be helpful if you could include an image of your output. — Peter, Mar 28 '22 at 12:49

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 28 '22 at 12:53

When I combine ě and ö, there is no problem in the output. I changed your character from Čžěčh Přóblém to Čžěčh Přöblém which has a combination of ě and ö. The output looks still good. Look at this code and output:

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)
library(ggtext)

df_x <- c(runif(6, min = 1, max = 2)) 
df_y <- c(rep("A", 3), rep("B", 3))
df_lab <- c("Čžěčh Přöblém", "Gërmän pröbëm töö", as.character(1:4))

tibble(df_x, df_y, df_lab) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = df_x, y = df_y, fill = df_lab)) +
  geom_bar(position = "stack", stat = "identity") + 
  theme(legend.text = element_markdown())

Output:

The legend is displayed well.

Rfanatic · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-28T14:31:02.463

Also you can change your system locale using the below code.

Sys.setlocale("LC_CTYPE", "Czech")

Sample code:

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)
library(ggthemes)

Sys.setlocale("LC_CTYPE", "Czech")

tibble(df_x, df_y, df_lab) %>%
      ggplot(aes(x = df_x, y = df_y, fill = df_lab)) +
      geom_bar(position = "stack", stat = "identity") + 
      theme_par()+
      labs(x="dfx",y="dfy")+
      theme(axis.text.x = element_text(hjust = 1, face="bold", size=12, color="black"), 
            axis.title.x = element_text(face="bold", size=16, color="black"),
            axis.text.y = element_text(face="bold", size=12, color="black"),
            axis.title.y = element_text(face="bold", size=16, color="black"),
            strip.text = element_text(size=10, face="bold"),
            plot.title = element_text(size=20, face="bold"),
            legend.position = "top",
            legend.title = element_blank(),
            legend.text = element_text(color = "black", size = 16,face="bold"))

Plot:

or with the legend on the right side

Sample data:

df_x <- c(runif(6, min = 1, max = 2)) 
df_y <- c(rep("A", 3), rep("B", 3))
df_lab <- c("Čžěčh Přóblém", "Gërmän pröbëm töö", as.character(1:4))

Is there a solution that does not require changing locale, which can lead to other problems? This still seems like an issue, unless there is a real reason why it can't render these kinds of letters with extra spaces when set in other locales like the US — Jamie, May 14 '22 at 02:30

How to fix ggtext´s rendering of combining characters like Ě or Ö?

2 Answers2