Question

I want to save a stacked area plot (Plot example with code can be found here) made with ggplot2 as SVG. Tried it with the Cairo package but the outcome is bad.

library(ggplot2)
library(grid)
library(Cairo)
...

#png(output_file, width=800, height=400)
Cairo(800,400,file=paste(output_file, ".svg", sep=""),type="svg",bg="transparent",pointsize=8, units="px",dpi=400)

gt <- ggplot_gtable(ggplot_build(p))
gt$layout$clip[gt$layout$name=="panel"] <- "off"
grid.draw(gt)

dev.off()

Answer 1

Saving a plot made with ggplot2 as an SVG is straightforward using the ggsave function.

However, additional package(s) beyond ggplot2 may be required, such as svglite.

Some sample code:

    require("ggplot2")
#some sample data
    head(diamonds) 
#to see actually what will be plotted and compare 
    qplot(clarity, data=diamonds, fill=cut, geom="bar")
#save the plot in a variable image to be able to export to svg
    image=qplot(clarity, data=diamonds, fill=cut, geom="bar")
#This actually save the plot in a image
    ggsave(file="test.svg", plot=image, width=10, height=8)

Hope it works for you.