merge-like scenario with two data.tables

Question

I have two dataframes (actually data.tables).

set.seed(123)
dt1 <- data.table(P=rep(letters[1:3],c(4,2,3)),X=sample(9))
dt1
   P X
1: a 3
2: a 7
3: a 9
4: a 6
5: b 5
6: b 1
7: c 2
8: c 8
9: c 4

and:

dt2 <- data.table(P=rep(letters[1:5],length=10),D=c("X","Y","Z","G","F"))
dt2
    P D
 1: a X
 2: b Y
 3: c Z
 4: d G
 5: e F
 6: a X
 7: b Y
 8: c Z
 9: d G
10: e F

Now I want to add a new column to dt1, with column "D" of dt2 where P has the same value in dt1 and dt2. It should look like this:

dt_new
   P X D
1: a 3 X
2: a 7 X
3: a 9 X
4: a 6 X
5: b 5 Y
6: b 1 Y
7: c 2 Z
8: c 8 Z
9: c 4 Z

Answer 1

I'd do a data.table join in this manner:

setkey(dt1, P)
dt1[unique(dt2),nomatch=0]

   P X D
1: a 3 X
2: a 7 X
3: a 9 X
4: a 6 X
5: b 5 Y
6: b 1 Y
7: c 2 Z
8: c 8 Z
9: c 4 Z