Add line break to axis labels and ticks in ggplot

Question

I\'m looking for a way to use long variable names on the x axis of a plot. Of course I could use a smaller font or rotate them a little but I would like keep them vertical a

Answer 1

If you don't want a break at each space, you could alternatively use the \n (new line) within the call to scale_x_continuous:

my.labels <- c("Ambystoma\nmexicanum",
               "Daubentonia madagascariensis", 
               "Psychrolutes marcidus") # first create labels, add \n where appropriate.

myplot + 
    scale_x_discrete(labels= my.labels)

Note that only the first name (Ambystoma mexicanum) will break using the new line command (\n).