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Unexpected behavior when combining `ggplot2` with `facet_wrap` and `scale_color_manual` in R

๐Ÿ‘€ Views: 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ Answers: 1 ๐Ÿ“… Created: 2025-06-18
ggplot2 data-visualization facet R

I've spent hours debugging this and I'm encountering an issue when trying to use `facet_wrap` alongside `scale_color_manual` in `ggplot2`... My intention is to create a scatter plot with different colors assigned to points based on a categorical variable, and then facet the plot by another variable. However, the colors don't seem to apply correctly to the facets, and I end up with a default color palette instead of the specified colors. Hereโ€™s a simplified version of my code: ```r library(ggplot2) library(dplyr) # Sample data data <- data.frame( x = rnorm(100), y = rnorm(100), category = sample(c('A', 'B', 'C'), 100, replace = TRUE), facet_var = sample(c('Group1', 'Group2'), 100, replace = TRUE) ) # Attempt to plot with facets and custom colors colors <- c('A' = 'red', 'B' = 'blue', 'C' = 'green') p <- ggplot(data, aes(x = x, y = y, color = category)) + geom_point() + facet_wrap(~facet_var) + scale_color_manual(values = colors) print(p) ``` When I run this code, the points are displayed, but the colors do not match what I've defined in `scale_color_manual`. Instead, it defaults to the original ggplot color scheme. I checked that the levels of the `category` variable are correctly defined, and I'm using `ggplot2` version 3.3.5. Iโ€™ve also tried to add `drop = FALSE` to the `facet_wrap` function, but it didnโ€™t seem to make a difference. Is there something I am missing or doing incorrectly? I've seen others use `scale_color_manual` successfully with facets, so I'm not sure why mine isn't working as expected. Any insights would be appreciated! This is part of a larger CLI tool I'm building. I'm open to any suggestions.