How to join (merge) data frames (inner, outer, left, right)
Asked 07 September, 2021
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Given two data frames:

df1 = data.frame(CustomerId = c(1:6), Product = c(rep("Toaster", 3), rep("Radio", 3)))
df2 = data.frame(CustomerId = c(2, 4, 6), State = c(rep("Alabama", 2), rep("Ohio", 1)))

df1
#  CustomerId Product
#           1 Toaster
#           2 Toaster
#           3 Toaster
#           4   Radio
#           5   Radio
#           6   Radio

df2
#  CustomerId   State
#           2 Alabama
#           4 Alabama
#           6    Ohio

How can I do database style, i.e., sql style, joins? That is, how do I get:

  • An inner join of df1 and df2:
    Return only the rows in which the left table have matching keys in the right table.
  • An outer join of df1 and df2:
    Returns all rows from both tables, join records from the left which have matching keys in the right table.
  • A left outer join (or simply left join) of df1 and df2
    Return all rows from the left table, and any rows with matching keys from the right table.
  • A right outer join of df1 and df2
    Return all rows from the right table, and any rows with matching keys from the left table.

Extra credit:

How can I do a SQL style select statement?

13 Answer