reordering factors

reorder_factors.r

# example ordering of elements in a factor for use in a graph:
mock <- data.frame(
  element = as.factor(c(rep("foo", 10), rep("bar", 10), rep("hello", 10))),
  value = rnorm(30))

levels(mock$element)
# [1] "bar" "foo" "hello"

# defining custom order for the elements:
my_order <- as.character(c("hello", "foo", "bar"))

# example plot with elements in order 3,2,1:
ggplot(mock, aes(x = factor(element, levels = my_order), y = value)) + geom_point()

# if wanting to rearrange the order within the factor itself, can use levels
levels(mock$element) <- my_order

levels(mock$element)
# [1] "hello" "foo"   "bar"