[R] How to use RColorBrewer in ggplot2?

[Achim Zeileis]

Note that the RColorBrewer colors are also available in base R. The 
qualitative palettes are exactly the same as in the palette.colors() 
function:

R> RColorBrewer::brewer.pal(4, "Paired")
[1] "#A6CEE3" "#1F78B4" "#B2DF8A" "#33A02C"

R> palette.colors(4, "Paired")
[1] "#A6CEE3" "#1F78B4" "#B2DF8A" "#33A02C"

For the sequential and diverging palettes, very close approximations using 
the HCL color model are available in hcl.colors():

R> RColorBrewer::brewer.pal(9, "YlGnBu")
[1] "#FFFFD9" "#EDF8B1" "#C7E9B4" "#7FCDBB" "#41B6C4" "#1D91C0" "#225EA8"
[8] "#253494" "#081D58"

R> hcl.colors(9, "YlGnBu", rev = TRUE)
[1] "#FCFFDD" "#E3F8D4" "#BCE9C5" "#85D5B7" "#18BDB0" "#00A0AE" "#007EB3"
[8] "#004C90" "#26185F"

Best,
Achim

On Fri, 15 Aug 2025, Rui Barradas wrote:

> Hello,
>
> You can create as many colors as you like with
>
> brewer.pal(n, name)
>
> where name is the palette name.
> Then, combine with the other color.
>
> library(ggplot2)
> library(RColorBrewer)
>
> brew_colrs <- brewer.pal(4, "Paired")
> black <- "#000000"
>
> # set the names to the possible value of 'z'
> colrs <- c(brew_cols, black) |> setNames(1:5)
>
> set.seed(50)
> x <- runif(15, 0, 1)
> df <- data.frame(x = x,
>                y = x^2 + runif(15, 0, 1),
>                z = rep(1:5, 3))
>
> ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=factor(z))) +
>  geom_point(size=4) +
>  scale_colour_manual(values = colrs)
>
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Rui Barradas
>
>
>
>
> On 8/15/2025 5:42 AM, Luigi Marongiu wrote:
>> Thank you, that worked fine.
>> May I also ask how to create a vector of colors with RColorBrewer?
>> Let's say I wanted to color z with 4 shade colors from the "Paired"
>> palette, but then assign the fifth with a color of my choice, say
>> "black", to distinguish clearly the fifth class.
>> If I run
>> ```
>>> scale_fill_brewer(palette="BrBG")
>> <ggproto object: Class ScaleDiscrete, Scale, gg>
>>      aesthetics: fill
>>      axis_order: function
>>      break_info: function
>>      break_positions: function
>>      breaks: waiver
>>      call: call
>>      clone: function
>>      dimension: function
>>      drop: TRUE
>>      expand: waiver
>>      get_breaks: function
>>      get_breaks_minor: function
>>      get_labels: function
>>      get_limits: function
>>      get_transformation: function
>>      guide: legend
>>      is_discrete: function
>>      is_empty: function
>>      labels: waiver
>>      limits: NULL
>>      make_sec_title: function
>>      make_title: function
>>      map: function
>>      map_df: function
>>      n.breaks.cache: NULL
>>      na.translate: TRUE
>>      na.value: NA
>>      name: waiver
>>      palette: function
>>      palette.cache: NULL
>>      position: left
>>      range: environment
>>      rescale: function
>>      reset: function
>>      train: function
>>      train_df: function
>>      transform: function
>>      transform_df: function
>>      super:  <ggproto object: Class ScaleDiscrete, Scale, gg>
>> ```
>> while the help says "The brewer scales provide sequential, diverging
>> and qualitative colour schemes".
>> How can I generate 4 shades with RColorBrewer?
>> Thanks.
>> 
>> On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 10:00 AM Marttila Mikko
>> <mikko.marttila using orionpharma.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Luigi,
>>> 
>>> As you map z to colour, you need scale_colour_brewer, not the fill 
>>> version.
>>> And to get discrete colours, you need to make z discrete. A separate group
>>> mapping isn't needed in this case. Try this:
>>>
>>>      ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=factor(z))) +
>>>        geom_point(size=4) +
>>>        scale_colour_brewer(palette = "Paired")
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> 
>>> Mikko
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: R-help <r-help-bounces using r-project.org> On Behalf Of Luigi Marongiu
>>> Sent: Thursday, 14 August 2025 06:25
>>> To: r-help <r-help using r-project.org>
>>> Subject: [R] How to use RColorBrewer in ggplot2?
>>> 
>>> Hello,
>>> I would like to define a color range to custom color some plot, 
>>> specifically made in ggplot2 (but also for normal plots).
>>> I have been trying to use RColorBrewer but I don't get any value out of 
>>> this function. I expected it would create a vector of color values, but I 
>>> must be missing something.
>>> What is the correct you of this function?
>>> Thank you.
>>> 
>>> EXAMPLE
>>> ```
>>> set.seed(50)
>>> df = data.frame(x = runif(15, 0, 1),
>>>                  y = x^2 + runif(15, 0, 1),
>>>                  z = rep(1:5, 3))
>>> library(ggplot2)
>>> library(RColorBrewer)
>>> ggplot(df, aes(x=x, y=y, colour=z, group=z)) +
>>>    geom_point(size=4) +
>>>    scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Paired")
>>> ```
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Best regards,
>>> Luigi
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>