lavplot: Create diagram code for tikz or svg, or produce an R plot
In lavaan: Latent Variable Analysis

lav_plot

R Documentation

Create diagram code for tikz or svg, or produce an R plot

Description

Creates code to draw a diagram in tikz or svg, plots the diagram, or stores the diagram in a png file.

Usage

lav_plot(model = NULL,
        infile = NULL,
        varlv = FALSE,
        placenodes = NULL,
        edgelabelsbelow = NULL,
        group_covar_indicators = FALSE,
        common_opts = list(sloped_labels = TRUE,
                           mlovcolors = c("lightgreen", "lightblue"),
                           italic = TRUE,
                           lightness = 1,
                           auto_subscript = TRUE),
        rplot = list(outfile = "",
                     addgrid = TRUE),
        tikz = list(outfile = "",
                    cex = 1.3,
                    standalone = FALSE),
        svg = list(outfile = "",
                   stroke_width = 2L,
                   font_size = 20L,
                   idx_font_size = 15L,
                   dy = 5L,
                   font_family = "Latin Modern Math, arial, Arial, sans",
                   standalone = FALSE)
        )

Arguments

`model`	A character vector specifying the model in lavaan syntax or a list (or data.frame) with at least members lhs, op, rhs, label and fixed or a fitted lavaan object (in which case the `ParTable` object is extracted and column `est` is used as value to show). Should be `NULL` if infile is given.
`infile`	A character string specifying the file that contains the model syntax.
`varlv`	A logical indicating that the (residual) variance of a variable should be plotted as a separate latent variable (with a smaller circle than ordinary latent variables). In this case, a covariance between two such variables is plotted as a covariance between their variance latent variables.
`placenodes`	optional list with members `nodename = c(row, column)`, `row` and `column` don't have to be integers.
`edgelabelsbelow`	optional list with members `c(nodename1, nodename2)`.
`group_covar_indicators`	logical, should items with indicators which have an explicit covariance link be placed in the same group, i.e. forced to be on the same side of the diagram?
`common_opts`	options common to the three types of generated plots.
`rplot`	options for creating Rplot, see `lav_plotinfo_rgraph`.
`tikz`	options for creating code for tikz plot, see `lav_plotinfo_tikzcode`.
`svg`	options for creating code for svg plot, see `lav_plotinfo_svgcode`.

Details

If rplot is specified, or if neither tikz nor svg is specified, an R plot is generated, and stored in a png file if the outfile member of rplot is set. If tikz is specified, the code for a tikz diagram is stored in the specified outfile; the same applies to svg.

The lav_plot command tries to create a nice plot from the input model, but the variable names should be kept short, and the nodes in the plot may sometimes need to be rearranged. As an example, the (slightly modified) example of the sem function in lavaan produces the first plot shown below. Using the placenodes argument produces the second plot. sem example before sem example after

More details on the parameters can be found in the help for the lav_... functions.

Value

NULL, invisible

Examples

model <- 'alpha11  =~ 1 * x1 + x2 + x3     # latent variable
          alpha12 <~ x4 + x5 + x6          # composite
          gamma =~ 1 * x7 + x8 + x9        # latent variable
          xi =~ 1 * x10 + x11 + x12 + x13  # latent variable
          x1 ~~ x3
          x2 ~~ epsilon2 * x2
          x12 ~~ epsilon12 * x12
          x4 ~~ epsilon4 * x4
          x7 ~~ x9
          x10 ~~ x11 + x13
          gamma ~~ 0.7 * xi
          # regressions
          xi ~ v * alpha11 + t * alpha12 + 1
          alpha11 ~ yy * Theta1 + tt1 * 0.12 * alpha12 + ss * gamma
          Theta1 ~~ alpha12
          '
lav_plot(model)
lav_plot(model,
        placenodes=list(Theta1 = c(2, 2.5)),
        tikz = list(outfile=stdout()))
modelml <- '
        level: 1
        fw =~ y_1 + y_2 + y_3 + y_4
        level: 2
        fb =~ y_1 + y_2 + y_3 + y_5
        y_2 ~~ cv24 * y_5
  '
tikzcodeml <- lav_plot(modelml,
              common_opts = list(auto_subscript = FALSE),
              svg = list(outfile=stdout())
              )

## Not run: 
# example creating tex file with the above models
zz <- file("testtikz.tex", open="w")
writeLines(c(
  '\documentclass{article}',
  '\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb}',
  '\usepackage{amsfonts}',
  '\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}',
  '\usepackage[english]{babel}',
  '\usepackage{xcolor}',
  '\usepackage{color}',
  '\usepackage{tikz}',
  '\usetikzlibrary {shapes.geometric}',
  '\begin{document}'),
  zz)
lav_plot(model,
        tikz = list(outfile = "tmp.tex")
        )
tmp <- readLines("tmp.tex")
writeLines(tmp, zz)
writeLines(" ", zz)
lav_plot(modelml,
        common_opts = list(sloped_labels = FALSE,
                           mlovcolors = c("lightgreen", "lightblue")),
        tikz = list(outfile = "tmp.tex", cex = 1.4)
        )
tmp <- readLines("tmp.tex")
writeLines(tmp, zz)
writeLines("\end{document}", zz)
close(zz)
openPDF <- function(f) {
  os <- .Platform$OS.type
  if (os=="windows")
    shell.exec(normalizePath(f))
  else {
    pdf <- getOption("pdfviewer", default='')
    if (nchar(pdf)==0)
      stop("The 'pdfviewer' option is not set. Use options(pdfviewer=...)")
    system2(pdf, args=c(f))
  }
}
tools::texi2dvi("testtikz.tex", pdf = TRUE, clean = TRUE)
openPDF("testtikz.pdf")

# example creating html file with the above diagrams
zz <- file("demosvg.html", open="w")
writeLines(c(
  '<!DOCTYPE html>',
  '<html>',
  '<body>',
  '<h2>SVG diagrams created by lav_plot R package</h2>'),
  zz)
lav_plot(model,
        svg =  list(outfile = "temp.svg")
        )
tmp <- readLines("tmp.svg")
writeLines(tmp, zz)
writeLines("<br />", zz)
lav_plot(modelml,
        common_opts = list(sloped_labels = FALSE),
        tikz = list(outfile = "tmp.svg")
        )
tmp <- readLines("tmp.svg")
writeLines(tmp, zz)
writeLines(c("</body>", "</html>"), zz)
close(zz)
browseURL("demosvg.html")

## End(Not run)

lavaan documentation built on Oct. 8, 2026, 5:06 p.m.