Network: Network

In plotthis: High-Level Plotting Built Upon 'ggplot2' and Other Plotting Packages

Network

Description

Draws a network graph from a links (edge list) data frame and an optional nodes (vertex metadata) data frame. The graph is constructed via igraph, laid out with igraph layout algorithms, and rendered with ggraph. Supports directed or undirected edges, variable link widths/linetypes/colours, node sizes/shapes/colours/fills, community detection with enclosure marks, automatic node labels, and a wide range of layout options.

When links (and optionally nodes) contain a split_by column, separate sub-plots are generated for each split level and combined via patchwork. Unlike most other plot types, Network operates on two data frames; splitting may affect both.

Usage

Network(
  links,
  nodes = NULL,
  split_by = NULL,
  split_by_sep = "_",
  split_nodes = FALSE,
  from = NULL,
  from_sep = "_",
  to = NULL,
  to_sep = "_",
  node_by = NULL,
  node_by_sep = "_",
  link_weight_by = 2,
  link_weight_name = NULL,
  link_type_by = "solid",
  link_type_name = NULL,
  node_size_by = 15,
  node_size_name = NULL,
  node_color_by = "black",
  node_color_name = NULL,
  node_shape_by = 21,
  node_shape_name = NULL,
  node_fill_by = "grey20",
  node_fill_name = NULL,
  link_alpha = 1,
  node_alpha = 0.95,
  node_stroke = 1.5,
  cluster_scale = c("fill", "color", "shape"),
  node_size_range = c(5, 20),
  link_weight_range = c(0.5, 5),
  link_arrow_offset = 20,
  link_curvature = 0,
  link_color_by = "from",
  link_color_name = NULL,
  palette = "Paired",
  palcolor = NULL,
  palreverse = FALSE,
  link_palette = ifelse(link_color_by %in% c("from", "to"), palette, "Set1"),
  link_palcolor = if (link_color_by %in% c("from", "to")) palcolor else NULL,
  directed = TRUE,
  layout = "circle",
  cluster = "none",
  add_mark = FALSE,
  mark_expand = ggplot2::unit(10, "mm"),
  mark_type = c("hull", "ellipse", "rect", "circle"),
  mark_alpha = 0.1,
  mark_linetype = 1,
  add_label = TRUE,
  label_size = 3,
  label_fg = "white",
  label_bg = "black",
  label_bg_r = 0.1,
  arrow = ggplot2::arrow(type = "closed", length = ggplot2::unit(0.1, "inches")),
  title = NULL,
  subtitle = NULL,
  xlab = NULL,
  ylab = NULL,
  aspect.ratio = 1,
  theme = "theme_this",
  theme_args = list(),
  legend.position = "right",
  legend.direction = "vertical",
  seed = 8525,
  combine = TRUE,
  nrow = NULL,
  ncol = NULL,
  byrow = TRUE,
  axes = NULL,
  axis_titles = axes,
  guides = NULL,
  design = NULL,
  ...
)

Arguments

links	A data frame containing the edge list. Must contain the from and to columns specifying source and target node identifiers. Additional columns can be referenced by other parameters (e.g., link_weight_by, link_type_by, link_color_by).
nodes	An optional data frame of node metadata. When provided, columns such as node_size_by, node_color_by, node_shape_by, and node_fill_by can reference its columns. When NULL, the node set is inferred from the unique values in the from and to columns. If a single character string starting with "@", the nodes data frame is extracted from the corresponding attribute of links (e.g. "@nodes" extracts attr(links, "nodes")).
split_by	The column(s) to split data by and plot separately.
split_by_sep	The separator for multiple split_by columns. See split_by
split_nodes	A logical value. When TRUE and split_by is provided, the nodes data frame is split by the same split_by column in addition to the links. Both data frames must have a column with the same name as split_by. Default FALSE.
from	A character string specifying the column name in links for the source node identifiers. Defaults to "from", or the first column of links if that column name does not exist. Multiple columns can be provided; they are concatenated with from_sep.
from_sep	A character string to join multiple from columns. Default "_". Ignored when from is a single column.
to	A character string specifying the column name in links for the target node identifiers. Defaults to "to", or the second column of links if that column name does not exist. Multiple columns can be provided; they are concatenated with to_sep.
to_sep	A character string to join multiple to columns. Default "_". Ignored when to is a single column.
node_by	A character string specifying the column name in nodes for the node identifiers. These must match the values in the from / to columns of links. Defaults to "name", or the first column of nodes if that column name does not exist. Multiple columns can be provided; they are concatenated with node_by_sep.
node_by_sep	A character string to join multiple node_by columns. Default "_". Ignored when node_by is a single column.
link_weight_by	A numeric value or a character string. If numeric, all edges receive that constant line width. If a column name, the edge line width is mapped to that column. Default 2.
link_weight_name	A character string for the link weight legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from link_weight_by is used. Only relevant when link_weight_by is a column name.
link_type_by	A character string or a column name specifying the edge linetype. Can be "solid", "dashed", "dotted", etc. If a column name from links is supplied, the linetype is mapped to that column (with a version check for ggplot2 4.0.0, where mapping is unsupported and a warning is issued). Default "solid".
link_type_name	A character string for the link linetype legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from link_type_by is used. Only relevant when link_type_by is a column name.
node_size_by	A numeric value or a character string. If numeric, all nodes receive that constant point size. If a column name, the size is mapped to that column. Default 15.
node_size_name	A character string for the node size legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from node_size_by is used. Only relevant when node_size_by is a column name.
node_color_by	A character string specifying the node colour. If a colour name or hex code (e.g. "black"), all nodes receive that constant colour. If a column name from nodes is supplied, the colour is mapped to that column. Default "black".
node_color_name	A character string for the node colour legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from node_color_by is used. Only relevant when node_color_by is a column name.
node_shape_by	A numeric value or a character string. If numeric, all nodes receive that constant shape (see shape). If a column name, the shape is mapped to that column (cast to factor). Default 21 (filled circle with border).
node_shape_name	A character string for the node shape legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from node_shape_by is used. Only relevant when node_shape_by is a column name.
node_fill_by	A character string specifying the node fill colour. If a colour name or hex code (e.g. "grey20"), all nodes receive that constant fill. If a column name from nodes is supplied, the fill is mapped to that column. Default "grey20".
node_fill_name	A character string for the node fill legend title. When NULL (default), the column name from node_fill_by is used. Only relevant when node_fill_by is a column name.
link_alpha	A numeric value specifying the transparency (alpha) of the edge lines. Between 0 (invisible) and 1 (opaque). Default 1.
node_alpha	A numeric value specifying the fill transparency of the nodes. Only applies when node_shape_by is one of the filled shapes (21–25). Default 0.95.
node_stroke	A numeric value specifying the border stroke width of the node points. Default 1.5.
cluster_scale	A character string specifying which node aesthetic is overridden by cluster membership. One of "fill", "color", or "shape". The value is matched via match.arg; default is "fill".
node_size_range	A numeric vector of length 2 giving the minimum and maximum node size (in ggplot2 point units) when node_size_by is a column name. Default c(5, 20).
link_weight_range	A numeric vector of length 2 giving the minimum and maximum edge line width (in mm) when link_weight_by is a column name. Default c(0.5, 5).
link_arrow_offset	A numeric value (in points) specifying the offset distance for the arrow end cap from the target node. Prevents arrow heads from overlapping the node points. Only relevant when directed = TRUE. Default 20.
link_curvature	A numeric value controlling the curvature of the edges. 0 (default) produces straight edges; positive values curve them away from the direct path.
link_color_by	A character string controlling how edge colour is determined. Options: "from" (default) – colour follows the source node's fill or colour aesthetic. "to" – colour follows the target node's fill or colour. A column name from links – colour is mapped directly to that column.
link_color_name	A character string for the edge colour legend title. Only used when link_color_by is a column name (not "from" or "to"). When NULL (default), the column name is used.
palette	A character string specifying the palette to use. A named list or vector can be used to specify the palettes for different split_by values.
palcolor	A character string specifying the color to use in the palette. A named list can be used to specify the colors for different split_by values. If some values are missing, the values from the palette will be used (palcolor will be NULL for those values).
palreverse	A logical value indicating whether to reverse the palette. Default is FALSE.
link_palette	A character string specifying the palette for edge colours when they are mapped. When link_color_by is "from" or "to", defaults to the node palette. Otherwise defaults to "Set1".
link_palcolor	A character vector specifying custom colours for the edge palette. When link_color_by is "from" or "to", defaults to the node palcolor. Otherwise defaults to NULL.
directed	A logical value. When TRUE, edges are drawn with arrow heads and an end-cap offset. Default TRUE.
layout	A character string or an igraph_layout_spec object specifying the node placement algorithm. Built-in shortcuts: "circle" (circular layout), "tree" (hierarchical tree), "grid" (grid layout). Any other string is prefixed with "layout_with_" and called as an igraph function (e.g. "fr" for Fruchterman–Reingold, "kk" for Kamada–Kawai). Default "circle".
cluster	A character string specifying the community detection algorithm. One of "none", "fast_greedy", "walktrap", "edge_betweenness", "infomap", or a custom clustering function from igraph. When not "none", cluster membership overrides the aesthetic selected by cluster_scale. Default "none".
add_mark	A logical value. When TRUE (and cluster != "none"), an enclosure mark is drawn around each cluster's nodes. Default FALSE.
mark_expand	A unit object specifying the extra space around points within a cluster mark. Default unit(10, "mm").
mark_type	A character string specifying the mark geometry. One of "hull", "ellipse", "rect", or "circle", corresponding to ggforce's geom_mark_hull, geom_mark_ellipse, geom_mark_rect, and geom_mark_circle. The value is matched via match.arg; default is "hull".
mark_alpha	A numeric value for the fill transparency of cluster marks. Default 0.1.
mark_linetype	A numeric or character value specifying the border line type of the cluster marks. Default 1 (solid).
add_label	A logical value. When TRUE (default), node identifiers are drawn as repulsive text labels via geom_text_repel.
label_size	A numeric value for the font size of node labels. Scaled by the theme base size. Default 3.
label_fg	A character string specifying the text colour of node labels. Default "white".
label_bg	A character string specifying the background colour of node labels. Default "black".
label_bg_r	A numeric value specifying the background box radius (as a fraction of label height). Passed to geom_text_repel's bg.r argument. Default 0.1.
arrow	A arrow object for the link arrow heads. Only used when directed = TRUE. Default is arrow(type = "closed", length = unit(0.1, "inches")).
title	A character string specifying the title of the plot. A function can be used to generate the title based on the default title. This is useful when split_by is used and the title needs to be dynamic.
subtitle	A character string specifying the subtitle of the plot.
xlab	A character string specifying the x-axis label.
ylab	A character string specifying the y-axis label.
aspect.ratio	A numeric value specifying the aspect ratio of the plot.
theme	A character string or a theme class (i.e. ggplot2::theme_classic) specifying the theme to use. Default is "theme_this".
theme_args	A list of arguments to pass to the theme function.
legend.position	A character string specifying the position of the legend. if waiver(), for single groups, the legend will be "none", otherwise "right".
legend.direction	A character string specifying the direction of the legend.
seed	The random seed to use. Default is 8525.
combine	Whether to combine the plots into one when facet is FALSE. Default is TRUE.
nrow	A numeric value specifying the number of rows in the facet.
ncol	A numeric value specifying the number of columns in the facet.
byrow	A logical value indicating whether to fill the plots by row.
axes	A string specifying how axes should be treated. Passed to patchwork::wrap_plots(). Only relevant when split_by is used and combine is TRUE. Options are: 'keep' will retain all axes in individual plots. 'collect' will remove duplicated axes when placed in the same run of rows or columns of the layout. 'collect_x' and 'collect_y' will remove duplicated x-axes in the columns or duplicated y-axes in the rows respectively.
axis_titles	A string specifying how axis titltes should be treated. Passed to patchwork::wrap_plots(). Only relevant when split_by is used and combine is TRUE. Options are: 'keep' will retain all axis titles in individual plots. 'collect' will remove duplicated titles in one direction and merge titles in the opposite direction. 'collect_x' and 'collect_y' control this for x-axis titles and y-axis titles respectively.
guides	A string specifying how guides should be treated in the layout. Passed to patchwork::wrap_plots(). Only relevant when split_by is used and combine is TRUE. Options are: 'collect' will collect guides below to the given nesting level, removing duplicates. 'keep' will stop collection at this level and let guides be placed alongside their plot. 'auto' will allow guides to be collected if a upper level tries, but place them alongside the plot if not.
design	Specification of the location of areas in the layout, passed to patchwork::wrap_plots(). Only relevant when split_by is used and combine is TRUE. When specified, nrow, ncol, and byrow are ignored. See patchwork::wrap_plots() for more details.
...	Additional arguments.

Value

A ggplot object (no split_by), a patchwork object (combine = TRUE), or a named list of ggplot objects (combine = FALSE), each with height and width attributes in inches.

split_by workflow

When split_by is provided:

1. Column validation – The split_by column is validated in links via check_columns, force-converted to a factor, and empty levels are dropped.

2. Node split – If split_nodes = TRUE and nodes is provided, the same split_by column is validated in nodes. It must be identical in name to the links split_by or an error is raised. Empty levels are also dropped.

3. Data splitting – The links data frame is split by the split_by levels into a named list, preserving factor level order.

4. Attach node splits – If split_nodes = TRUE, the nodes data frame is split identically. Each split's node data is attached as the "nodes" attribute on the corresponding links split.

5. Dispatch to atomic – NetworkAtomic is called for each split. The nodes argument is passed as "@nodes" when split_nodes = TRUE so that it is extracted from the attribute. If title is a function, it receives the split level name for dynamic title generation.

6. Combination – Results are combined via combine_plots() (when combine = TRUE) or returned as a named list of ggplot objects.

Examples

# Create example data
actors <- data.frame(
  name = c("Alice", "Bob", "Cecil", "David", "Esmeralda"),
  age = c(48, 33, 45, 34, 21),
  shape = c(21, 22, 21, 22, 23),
  gender = c("F", "M", "F", "M", "F")
)
relations <- data.frame(
  from = c("Bob", "Cecil", "Cecil", "David", "David", "Esmeralda", "Bob", "Alice",
     "Cecil", "David"),
  to = c("Alice", "Bob", "Alice", "Alice", "Bob", "Alice", "Bob", "Alice", "Cecil",
     "David"),
  friendship = c(4, 5, 5, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 4),
  type = c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2)
)

# Basic network
Network(relations, actors)

# Blank theme with no coordinate axes
Network(relations, actors, theme = "theme_blank",
        theme_args = list(add_coord = FALSE))

# Mapped aesthetics with custom layout
Network(relations, actors,
        link_weight_by = "friendship",
        node_size_by = "age",
        link_weight_name = "FRIENDSHIP",
        node_fill_by = "gender",
        link_color_by = "to",
        link_type_by = "type",
        node_color_by = "black",
        layout = "circle",
        link_curvature = 0.2)

# Tree layout with clustering and marks
Network(relations, actors, layout = "tree",
        directed = FALSE, cluster = "fast_greedy",
        add_mark = TRUE)

# Split by a column
Network(relations, actors, split_by = "type")

plotthis documentation built on July 9, 2026, 5:07 p.m.