Update/Replace Values in Dataframe with Tidyverse Join

Question

What is the most efficient way to update/replace NAs in main dataset with (correct) values in a lookup table? This is such a common operation! Similar questions do not seem

Answer 1

Picking up Alistaire's and Nettle's suggestions and transforming into a working solution

df1 %>% 
  left_join(lookup_df, by = "state_abbrev") %>% 
  mutate(state_name = coalesce(state_name.x, state_name.y)) %>% 
  select(-state_name.x, -state_name.y)

# A tibble: 10 x 3
   state_abbrev value state_name 
                  
 1 AL             671 Alabama    
 2 AK             501 Alaska     
 3 AZ            1030 Arizona    
 4 AR             694 Arkansas   
 5 CA             881 California 
 6 CO             821 Colorado   
 7 CT             742 Connecticut
 8 DE             665 Delaware   
 9 FL             948 Florida    
10 GA             790 Georgia

---

The OP has stated to prefer a "tidyverse" solution. However, update joins are already available with the data.table package:

library(data.table)
setDT(df1)[setDT(lookup_df), on = "state_abbrev", state_name := i.state_name]
df1

    state_abbrev  state_name value
 1:           AL     Alabama  1103
 2:           AK      Alaska  1036
 3:           AZ     Arizona   811
 4:           AR    Arkansas   604
 5:           CA  California   868
 6:           CO    Colorado  1129
 7:           CT Connecticut   819
 8:           DE    Delaware  1194
 9:           FL     Florida   888
10:           GA     Georgia   501

Benchmark

library(bench)
bm <- press(
  na_share = c(0.1, 0.5, 0.9),
  n_row = length(state.abb) * 2 * c(1, 100, 10000),
  {
    n_na <- na_share * length(state.abb)
    set.seed(1)
    na_idx <- sample(length(state.abb), n_na)
    tmp <- data.table(state_abbrev = state.abb, state_name = state.name)
    lookup_df <-tmp[na_idx] 
    tmp[na_idx, state_name := NA]
    df0 <- as_tibble(tmp[sample(length(state.abb), n_row, TRUE)])
    mark(
      dplyr = {
        df1 <- copy(df0)
        df1 <- df1 %>% 
          left_join(lookup_df, by = "state_abbrev") %>% 
          mutate(state_name = coalesce(state_name.x, state_name.y)) %>% 
          select(-state_name.x, -state_name.y)
        df1
      },
      upd_join = {
        df1 <- copy(df0)
        setDT(df1)[setDT(lookup_df), on = "state_abbrev", state_name := i.state_name]
        df1
      }
    )
  }
)
ggplot2::autoplot(bm)

data.table's upate join is always faster (note the log time scale).

As the update join modifies the data object, a fresh copy is used for each benchmark run.