How to create a hierarchical cluster dendrogram in R?

A dendrogram display the hierarchical relationship between objects and it is created by using hierarchical clustering. In base R, we can use hclust function to create the clusters and the plot function can be used to create the dendrogram. For example, if we want to create the dendrogram for mtcars data then it can be done as shown below:

> hc=hclust(dist(mtcars))
> plot(hc)

Example1

Live Demo

> head(mtcars)

Output

mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
Mazda RX4 21.0 6 160 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
Mazda RX4 Wag 21.0 6 160 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
Datsun 710 22.8 4 108 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
Hornet 4 Drive 21.4 6 258 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
Hornet Sportabout 18.7 8 360 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
Valiant 18.1 6 225 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1

Example

Live Demo

> hc=hclust(dist(mtcars))
> plot(hc)

Output:

Example2

Live Demo

> head(sleep)

Output

extra group ID
1 0.7 1 1
2 -1.6 1 2
3 -0.2 1 3
4 -1.2 1 4
5 -0.1 1 5
6 3.4 1 6

Example

Live Demo

> hc=hclust(dist(sleep))
> plot(hc)

Output

Example3

Live Demo

> head(women)

Output

height weight
1 58 115
2 59 117
3 60 120
4 61 123
5 62 126
6 63 129

Example

Live Demo

> hc=hclust(dist(women))
> plot(hc)

Output