Preventing duplicate columns when merging with data.table

问题

I have two data tables which have partly similar column names:

   dfA <- read.table(
  text = "A   B   C   D   E   F   G   iso   year   matchcode
  1   0   1   1   1   0   1   0   NLD   2010   NLD2010
  2   1   0   0   0   1   0   1   NLD   2014   NLD2014
  3   0   0   0   1   1   0   0   AUS   2010   AUS2010
  4   1   0   1   0   0   1   0   AUS   2006   AUS2006
  5   0   1   0   1   0   1   1   USA   2008   USA2008
  6   0   0   1   0   0   0   1   USA   2010   USA2010
  7   0   1   0   1   0   0   0   USA   2012   USA2012
  8   1   0   1   0   0   1   0   BLG   2008   BLG2008
  9   0   1   0   1   1   0   1   BEL   2008   BEL2008
  10   1   0   1   0   0   1   0  BEL   2010   BEL2010",
  header = TRUE
)

   dfB <- read.table(
  text = "A   B   C   D   H   I   J   iso   year   matchcode
  1   0   1   1   1   0   1   0   NLD   2009   NLD2009
  2   1   0   0   0   1   0   1   NLD   2014   NLD2014
  3   0   0   0   1   1   0   0   AUS   2011   AUS2011
  4   1   0   1   0   0   1   0   AUS   2007   AUS2007
  5   0   1   0   1   0   1   1   USA   2007   USA2007
  6   0   0   1   0   0   0   1   USA   2011   USA2010
  7   0   1   0   1   0   0   0   USA   2013   USA2013
  8   1   0   1   0   0   1   0   BLG   2007   BLG2007
  9   0   1   0   1   1   0   1   BEL   2009   BEL2009
  10   1   0   1   0   0   1   0  BEL   2012   BEL2012",
  header = TRUE
)
library(data.table)
setDT(dfA)
setDT(dfB)

To merge the data.tables I will do the following:

dfA <- dfA[dfB, on = .(iso, year), roll = "nearest", nomatch = 0]

This will however, apart from the desired duplicate column matchcode also create the undesired duplicate columns A, B, C, D. Because of the number of merges I need to do, that would get too messy.

Is there a way to exclude duplicate columns from the merging process without explicitly referring to them? If not, how can I do so by explicitly referring to them. If not, can I remove them afterwards without explicitly referring to the duplicates? For example by removing all columns which look like `i.columnname' ?

The preferred output would be as follows:

#    A B C D E F G iso year matchcodeA H I J matchcodeB
# 1: 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 NLD  2014  NLD2014  1 0 1    NLD2014
# 2: 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 AUS  2011  AUS2010  1 0 0    AUS2011
# 3: 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 AUS  2007  AUS2006  0 1 0    AUS2007
# 4: 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 USA  2011  USA2010  0 0 1    USA2010
# 5: 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 USA  2013  USA2012  0 0 0    USA2013
# 6: 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 BEL  2009  BEL2008  1 0 1    BEL2009
# 7: 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 NLD  2009  NLD2010  0 1 0    NLD2009
# 8: 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 USA  2007  USA2008  0 1 1    USA2007
# 9: 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 USA  2011  USA2012  0 0 1    USA2010
#10: 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 BEL  2009  BEL2010  1 0 1    BEL2009

回答1:

We can create an index of column names that are common with intersecgt

nm1 <- intersect(names(dfA), names(dfB))

then, use setdiff to find the column names that are found in 'dfB' and not in the 'nm1' while including the joining columns 'iso' 'year' as well as the 'matchcode'

nm2 <- c(setdiff(names(dfB), nm1), "iso", "year", "matchcode")

Now, we do the join

out <- dfA[dfB[, ..nm2], on = .(iso, year), roll = "nearest", nomatch = 0]
setnames(out, c('matchcode', 'i.matchcode'), c('matchcodeA', 'matchcodeB'))

来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53993156/preventing-duplicate-columns-when-merging-with-data-table

标签

merge

duplicates

data.table

columnname