How do I change the default stat in ggplot2

Question

I know how to change the default colour in bar charts blue

update_geom_defaults("bar", list(fill = "blue"))

but how do I change the stat component. I tried

update_geom_defaults("bar", list(stat = "identity"))

but after I attempt a ggplot() + geom_bar(...) I get the error message Mapping a variable to y and also using stat="bin". How do I actually change the defaults?

I noticed that

> update_geom_defaults
function (geom, new) 
{
    g <- Geom$find(geom)
    old <- g$default_aes()
    aes <- defaults(new, old)
    g$default_aes <- eval(substitute(function(.) aes, list(aes = aes)))
}
<environment: namespace:ggplot2>

seems to only apply the update to aesthetics.

M-- · Accepted Answer · 2025-08-22 16:53:55Z

3

update_geom_defaults and update_stat_defaults are functions to change the default aesthetic mapping.

As far as I know, there is no function to change the default stats, but you can easily do the job by, e.g.,

geom_bar_i <- function(...) geom_bar(..., stat = "identity")
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = am, y = vs)) + geom_bar_i()

edited Aug 22 at 16:53

M--

33.5k12 gold badges74 silver badges115 bronze badges

answered Oct 24, 2014 at 12:18

kohske

67.2k9 gold badges168 silver badges155 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Stibu Aug 23 at 7:44

For this special case, geom_bar() with stat = "identity", a dedicated geom exists in ggplot: geom_col().

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How do I change the default stat in ggplot2

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Linked

Related