Df1
2017-01-27 01
2017-01-26 03
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 02
Df2
2017-01-26 03
2017-01-27 00
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 18
Latest
2017-01-27 01
2017-01-27 00
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 18
Df1
2017-01-27 01
2017-01-26 03
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 02
Df2
2017-01-26 03
2017-01-27 00
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 18
Latest
2017-01-27 01
2017-01-27 00
2017-01-27 15
2017-04-03 18
apply(data.frame(a=c("2016-01-01","2016-02-01", "2017-01-01"),
b=c("2016-02-01","2016-01-01", "2016-12-01")), 1, max)
This should give you the newest date per line