plotly Sankey diagram: How to change default order of nodes

Question

I created a Sankey diagram using the plotly package.

As far as I see, the default order of nodes is mostly defined by the value. However, I want the alphabetical order without manually moving nodes with mouse drug.

Can I change the default order with R?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Below is an example code and the outputs:

node_label <- c("x1_1", "x1_2", "x2_1", "x2_2") link_source <- c(0, 0, 1, 1) link_target <- c(2, 3, 2, 3) link_value <- c(2, 5, 1, 3) # when link_value <- c(5, 2, 1, 3), the order is changed.  plotly::plot_ly(   type = "sankey",    domain = list(x =  c(0,1), y =  c(0,1)),    node = list(label = node_label),   link = list(     source =  link_source,     target = link_target,     value =  link_value)) 

Answer 1

this might be worth checking, but i found it helpful in my case (where the diagram was a bit more complex). If, when you organize the data labels, make sure to organize the list in the order you'd like to have it displayed.

For example, if there's a node that needs to come in early (left), simply pop it before the rest of the labelList.insert(0, labelList.pop(labelList.index(first_node_label)))

Then plug labelList into the go and you should have some (although not absolute) control over the structure.

Answer 2

With @banderlog013's advice, I achieved to manually define the order of nodes.
Big thanks !!!
Below is my example answer.

node_label <- c("x1_1", "x1_2", "x2_1", "x2_2") node_x <- c(0, 0, 1, 1) node_y <- c(0, 1, 0, 1) link_source <- c(0, 0, 1, 1) link_target <- c(2, 3, 2, 3) link_value <- c(2, 5, 1, 3)  plotly::plot_ly(   type = "sankey",    arrangement = "snap",   node = list(     label = node_label,     x = node_x,     y = node_y,     pad = 20),     link = list(     source =  link_source,     target = link_target,     value =  link_value)) 

And please a bit drug a node to reflect the nodes position.