R help - May 2005 - Add Columns and Order for Rbind?

I am using rbind to add one list with one row to another master list.  The
problem is that not all columns exist in both lists.

What methods would you recommend to reorder one list based on the column
names of another?   If both sets have the same order and columns, I can
then use rbind.  I can live with columns being added to the master list set
it makes the task easier using something like union for column name
matching and order.

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Kenneth Ray Hobson, P.E.
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On 5/31/05, khobson at fd9ns01.okladot.state.ok.us
<khobson at fd9ns01.okladot.state.ok.us> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am using rbind to add one list with one row to another master list.  The
> problem is that not all columns exist in both lists.
> 
> What methods would you recommend to reorder one list based on the column
> names of another?   If both sets have the same order and columns, I can
> then use rbind.  I can live with columns being added to the master list set
> it makes the task easier using something like union for column name
> matching and order.
> 
Suppose we have this test data:

# test data
irish <- head(iris)
one.row <- data.frame(Sepal.Length = 5, Sepal.Area = 10)

# Then we rbind an NA row to irish and fill it with one.row

irish <- rbind(irish, NA)
irish[nrow(irish),names(one.row)] <- one.row


# If you don't want columns added to the master list do this instead:

irish <- head(iris)  # recreate test data
irish  <- rbind(irish, NA)
both <- intersect(names(irish), names(one.row))
irish[nrow(irish), both] <- one.row[,both]

Note that appending rows one at a time can be slow.