Combining Multiple Plots in R and Python Using patchwork and patchworklib

Problem: How to combine several individual plots into one composite figure.

R solution (patchwork): Install the package and use the

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("thomasp85/patchwork")

command. Load the libraries and create plots with

library(ggplot2)
library(patchwork)

p1 <- ggplot(mtcars) + geom_point(aes(mpg, disp))
p2 <- ggplot(mtcars) + geom_boxplot(aes(gear, disp, group = gear))

p1 + p2

to place two plots side by side. For more complex layouts, define additional plots and combine them, e.g.,

p3 <- ggplot(mtcars) + geom_smooth(aes(disp, qsec))
p4 <- ggplot(mtcars) + geom_bar(aes(carb))

(p1 | p2 | p3) /
      p4

, producing a two‑row layout with three plots on the first row and one on the second.

Python solution (patchworklib): Install the library with pip3 install patchworklib. Use it to arrange Matplotlib/Seaborn/plotnine figures. Example code:

import patchworklib as pw
import seaborn as sns

fmri = sns.load_dataset("fmri")
ax1 = pw.Brick(figsize=(3,2))
sns.lineplot(x="timepoint", y="signal", hue="region", style="event", data=fmri, ax=ax1)
ax1.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 1.0), loc='upper left')
ax1.set_title("ax1")

titanic = sns.load_dataset("titanic")
ax2 = pw.Brick(figsize=(1,2))
sns.barplot(x="sex", y="survived", hue="class", data=titanic, ax=ax2)
ax2.move_legend(new_loc='upper left', bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 1.0))
ax2.set_title("ax2")

ax12 = ax1 | ax2
ax12.savefig("ax12.png")

Further examples show how to combine more plots using the | (horizontal) and / (vertical) operators, such as

#省略 ax1、ax2、ax4绘制过程

ax124 = ax1|ax2|ax4
ax124.savefig("../img/ax124.png")

and

#省略 ax124、ax3、ax5绘制过程
ax12435 = ax124/(ax3|ax5)
ax12435.savefig("../img/ax12435.png")

, demonstrating flexible grid constructions.