r - stop ggplot2 from dropping data points outside of axis limits?

Question

If I make a line plot (a time series, for example) and set my axis limits, I want the line to continue off the plot when points are outside of the axis limits, and then come back into the plot for the next point that is within the axis limits. Right now, it seems that ggplot2 will just drop the points completely and give me a an "Error:" message.

Answer 1

If you limit your axes by reducing the axis scale (scale_x_continuous(limits=...)), then that is the expected behavior. By adjusting the scale, you are defining what data should be part of the plot. If you want to use all the data, but just zoom in on a particular region of the axes, you want to use coord_cartesian(xlim=..., ylim=...) instead.