Merge multiple data tables with duplicate column names

Question

I am trying to merge (join) multiple data tables (obtained with fread from 5 csv files) to form a single data table. I get an error when I try to merge 5 data tables, but wo

Answer 1

Using reshaping gives you a lot more flexibility in how you want to name your columns.

library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)

list(DT1, DT2, DT3, DT4, DT5) %>%
  bind_rows(.id = "source") %>%
  mutate(source = paste("y", source, sep = ".")) %>%
  spread(source, y)

Or, this would work

library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)

list(DT1 = DT1, DT2 = DT2, DT3 = DT3, DT4 = DT4, DT5 = DT5) %>%
  bind_rows(.id = "source") %>%
  mutate(source = paste(source, "y", sep = ".")) %>%
  spread(source, y)