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This article comprehensively explores three main approaches for creating side-by-side plot layouts in R using ggplot2: the grid.arrange function from gridExtra package, the plot_grid function from cowplot package, and the + operator from patchwork package. Through comparative analysis of their strengths and limitations, along with practical code examples, it demonstrates how to flexibly choose appropriate methods to meet various visualization needs, including basic layouts, label addition, theme unification, and complex compositions.

This article provides a detailed exploration of methods for extracting and adding shared legends when combining multiple ggplot plots in R. Through step-by-step code examples and in-depth technical analysis, it demonstrates best practices for legend extraction, layout management with grid.arrange, and handling legend positioning and dimensions. The article also compares alternative approaches and provides practical solutions for data visualization challenges.