R data table: update join

Question

Suppose I have two data tables:

X <- data.table(id = 1:5, L = letters[1:5])

   id L
1:  1 a
2:  2 b
3:  3 c
4:  4 d
5:  5 e

Y <- data.table(id = 3:5,         


        

Answer 1

I may have miss few things, please correct me if there is a better solution. I usually like to write function for such things.

Here one: the goal is to have all possibilities available. Join and update as well the join variable, use other variable names ...

> update.DT <- function(DATA1, DATA2, join.variable, overwrite.variable, overwrite.with.variable) {
+       
+       DATA1[DATA2, c(overwrite.variable) := mget(p0("i.", overwrite.with.variable)), on = join.variable][]
+       
+     }
> X <- X2 <- X3 <- data.table(id = 1:5, L = letters[1:5], PS = rep(59, 5))
> Y <- data.table(id = 3:5, id2 = 11:13, L = c("z", "g", "h"), PS = rep(61, 3))
> X
   id L PS
1:  1 a 59
2:  2 b 59
3:  3 c 59
4:  4 d 59
5:  5 e 59
> Y
   id id2 L PS
1:  3  11 z 61
2:  4  12 g 61
3:  5  13 h 61
> update.DT(DATA1 = X, DATA2 = Y, join.variable = "id", overwrite.variable = c("L"), overwrite.with.variable = c("L"))
   id L PS
1:  1 a 59
2:  2 b 59
3:  3 z 59
4:  4 g 59
5:  5 h 59
> update.DT(DATA1 = X2, DATA2 = Y, join.variable = "id", overwrite.variable = c("L", "PS"), overwrite.with.variable = c("L", "PS"))
   id L PS
1:  1 a 59
2:  2 b 59
3:  3 z 61
4:  4 g 61
5:  5 h 61
> update.DT(DATA1 = X2, DATA2 = Y, join.variable = "id", overwrite.variable = c("L", "PS", "id"), overwrite.with.variable = c("L", "PS", "id2"))
   id L PS
1:  1 a 59
2:  2 b 59
3: 11 z 61
4: 12 g 61
5: 13 h 61