how to use merge() to update a table in R

Question

I\'m trying to figure out how to use merge() to update a database.

Here is an example. Take for example the data frame foo

Answer 1

Another approach could be:

1. Remove the NAs from the first data fram

2. Use rbind to append the data instead of using merge:

These are the original two data frames:

foo <- data.frame(index=c('a', 'b', 'c', 'd'), value=c(100, 101, NA, NA))
bar <- data.frame(index=c('c', 'd'), value=c(200, 201))

(1) Use the negation of is.na to remove the NAs:

foo_new <- foo[!is.na(foo$value),]

(2) Bind the data frames and you'll get the answer you were looking for

new_df <- rbind(foo_new,bar)

            new_df
            index value
            1     a   100
            2     b   101
            3     c   200
            4     d   201

Answer 2

Doesn't merge() always bind columns together? Does replace() work?

foo$value <- replace(foo$value, foo$index %in% bar$index, bar$value)

or match() so the order matters

foo$value[match(bar$index, foo$index)] <- bar$value

Answer 3

The optimal solution using data.table

library(data.table)
setDT(foo)
setDT(bar)
foo[bar, on="index", value:=i.value]
foo
#   index value
#1:     a   100
#2:     b   101
#3:     c   200
#4:     d   201

first argument in [ data.table method is named i thus we can refer to column from table in i argument using i. prefix.

Answer 4

I think the most simple way is to "mark" the value which need to be update prior to the merge.

bar$update <- TRUE
foo <- merge(foo, bar, by='index', all=T, suffixes=c("",".update"))
foo[!is.na(foo$update),]$value <- foo[!is.na(foo$update),]$value.update
foo$value.update <- NULL
foo$update <- NULL

It would be faster using 'data.table'

library(data.table)
foo <- as.data.table(foo)
bar <- as.data.table(bar)
bar[, update:=TRUE]
foo <- merge(foo, bar, by='index', all=T, suffixes=c("",".update"))
foo[!is.na(update),value:=value.update]
foo[, c("value.update","update"):=NULL]
foo

   index value
1:     a   100
2:     b   101
3:     c   200
4:     d   201

Answer 5

I would also like to present an sql-solution using library sqldf and the R integrated sqlite-database. I like the simplicity, accuratness and power of sql.
Accurateness: since I can exactly define which object=rows I want to change without considering the order of a data.frame (foo.id = bar.id).
Power: in WHERE after SET and WHERE (third row) I can define all conditions I want to consider to update.
Simplicity: the syntax is more readable than using index in vectors, matrix or dataframes.

library(sqldf)

# I changed index to id since index does not work. 
#   Obviously index is a key word in sqlite.

(foo <- data.frame(id=c('a', 'b', 'c', 'd'), value=c(100, 101, NA, NA)))
(bar <- data.frame(id=c('c', 'd'), value=c(200, 201)))

sqldf(c(paste("UPDATE foo"
             ," SET value = (SELECT bar.value FROM bar WHERE foo.id = bar.id)"
             ," WHERE value IS NULL"
             )
        , " SELECT * FROM main.foo"
    )
)

Which gives

  id value
1  a   100
2  b   101
3  c   200
4  d   201

Similar issues:
r equivalent of sql update?
R sqlite: update with two tables

Answer 6

merge() only merges in new data. For instance, if you had a data set of average income for a few cities, and a separate data set of the populations of those cities, you would use merge() to merge in one set of data into the other.

Like apeescape said, replace() is probably what you want.