Concatenate multiple data frames with different columns in R

Question

I have multiple data frames (different rows and columns) and I am trying to concatenate them into one. They come with a different number of columns but equal names. Simply:

> colnames(data1)
  "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" "F" "G" "H"

> colnames(data2)
  "A" "B" "C" "D"

> colnames(data3)
  "A" "D" "E" "F" "H"

I need to concatenate all three data frames into one in a way that match the column name, and if it is not matchable just insert "NA" for that particular column. Thanks in advance

please post the output of `head(datax)` instead of `colnames`. Then we can help you. — Roman, Oct 26 '18 at 08:06
It's either `?merge` or `cbind.fill` https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7962267/cbind-a-df-with-an-empty-df-cbind-fill — Mikko, Oct 26 '18 at 08:07
you can use the merge function with A,B,C,D,E,F,H as "by" argument and all=T — T. Ciffréo, Oct 26 '18 at 08:11

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 26 '18 at 08:16

2

Use dplyr::bind_rows:

data1 <- data.frame(a = 1:3)
data2 <- data.frame(a = 4:6, b = 7:9)
data3 <- data.frame(b = 11:13)
dplyr::bind_rows(data1, data2, data3)

#   a  b
#1  1 NA
#2  2 NA
#3  3 NA
#4  4  7
#5  5  8
#6  6  9
#7 NA 11
#8 NA 12
#9 NA 13

answered Oct 26 '18 at 08:16

Linards Kalvans

479
2
8

Thanks Linards. That works for me! – Soheil Oct 26 '18 at 13:55

Concatenate multiple data frames with different columns in R

1 Answers1