Plot Method for cluster_choice — plot.cluster

Six explicit chart types plus a smart "auto" default. The user picks the shape; the function does not editorialise (no "best" annotation, no interpretive subtitles, no inferred recommendation).

Usage

# S3 method for class 'cluster_choice'
plot(
  x,
  type = c("auto", "lines", "bars", "heatmap", "tradeoff", "facet"),
  abbrev = FALSE,
  combined = TRUE,
  ...
)

Arguments

x: A cluster_choice object.
type: Character. One of "auto" (default), "lines", "bars", "heatmap", "tradeoff", "facet".
abbrev: Logical. If TRUE, dissimilarity and method names shown on tick labels and point labels are shortened (e.g. "hamming" -> "ham", "ward.D2" -> "wD2"). The legend shows the full canonical name. Default FALSE.
combined: Only meaningful for type = "facet". When TRUE (default), all methods are shown in one ggplot via facet_wrap(~ method). When FALSE, returns a named list of single-panel ggplots, one per method.
...: Unsupported. Supplying unused arguments raises an error.

Value

A ggplot object, invisibly; for type = "facet" with combined = FALSE, a named list of ggplots.

Details

Type cheat-sheet:

"auto": Default. Picks one of the others based on which axes were swept. k-only -> "lines"; one categorical axis swept -> "bars"; k plus one categorical -> "lines"; k plus two categoricals -> "facet"; both categoricals without k -> "heatmap".
"lines": Silhouette across k (and mean_within_dist when k is the only swept axis), one line per non-k axis when present.
"bars": Horizontal bar chart of silhouette per axis level. Bars sorted by silhouette.
"heatmap": Tiled silhouette across two categorical axes. Requires both dissimilarity and method swept.
"tradeoff": Scatter: silhouette (y) vs size_ratio (x). Works for any sweep; labels each point.
"facet": Lines vs k, colour by one categorical axis, facet by another. Requires k plus two categoricals.

Asking for a type the data can't support raises an error pointing at the alternatives.