Remove grid and background from plot using ggplot2 in R

Prerequisite: ggplot2 in R programming

A plot by default is produced with a grid background and grayish colored background. This article discusses how they can be removed. The examples given below use line plot, but the same can be employed for any other Visualization.

Approach

• Create data frame
• Plot normally
• Now add functions to make changes
• Display plot

To understand the difference better let us first create a plot with grid and background.

Program:

R

df <- data.frame(a=c(2,4,8), b=c(5, 10, 15))

plot = ggplot(df, aes(x = a, y = b)) + geom_point() + geom_line()

#output
plot

Output:

Basic Line Plot

Now, We are going to perform some operation/ modification on this plot.

Remove Grid:

Assigning the grid’s major and minor with the element_blanck() function, will remove the grid but not remove the background color and borderlines.

Program:

R

df <- data.frame(a=c(2,4,8),b=c(5, 10, 15))

plot + theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(),
               panel.grid.minor = element_blank())

Output:

Remove Grid But not remove Background

Only Grid and Axis Line:

Using theme_bw() function with the plot removes the grayish background but doesn’t affect the Grid.

Program:

R

df <- data.frame(a=c(2,4,8),b=c(5, 10, 15))

# theme_bw() function
plot + theme_bw()

Output:

Only Grid and Axis

Remove Background and Grid:

Assigning panel.background with element_blank() function will remove both grid and the background.

Program:

R

df <- data.frame(a=c(2,4,8),b=c(5, 10, 15))

plot + theme(panel.background = element_blank())

Output:

Remove Grid and Background