Inner-Joining two sf objects by non sf column

Question

Im trying to join two sf data-frames using inner-join or left-join. These dataframes both have geometries columns inside. I keep getting the error:
Error in check_join(x, y) : y should be a data.frame; for spatial joins, use st_joinFALSE

Reproducible example below:

df1 <- data.frame(
  var = c("a", "b", "c"),
  lon1 = c(20,35,45),
  lat1 = c(50,10,15)
) %>% st_as_sf(coords = c("lon1", "lat1"), dim = "XY") %>%
  st_set_crs(4326)

df2 <- data.frame(
  var = c("a", "b", "c"),
  lon2 = c(15,25,35),
  lat2 = c(5,10,15)
) %>% st_as_sf(coords = c("lon2", "lat2"), dim = "XY") %>%
  st_set_crs(4326)

df <- inner_join(df1, df2, by = "var")

I wouldn`t like to drop the geometry because I think that can mess up my results afterwards, but any solution is welcome

Answer 1

If you just want to do a non-spatial join but carry the geometry columns forward, you can 'deactivate' them first (e.g. as.data.frame()), join, then 'reactivate' the geometry column that you want to be active. You now have two sfc columns in your data.frame, but 'geometry.x' is the active one.

df <- inner_join(df1 %>% as.data.frame(), df2 %>% as.data.frame(), by = "var")

df %<>% st_sf(sf_column_name = 'geometry.x')

> str(df)
Classes ‘sf’ and 'data.frame':  3 obs. of  3 variables:
 $ var       : Factor w/ 3 levels "a","b","c": 1 2 3
 $ geometry.x:sfc_POINT of length 3; first list element: Classes 'XY', 'POINT', 'sfg'  num [1:2] 20 50
 $ geometry.y:sfc_POINT of length 3; first list element: Classes 'XY', 'POINT', 'sfg'  num [1:2] 15 5
 - attr(*, "sf_column")= chr "geometry.x"
 - attr(*, "agr")= Factor w/ 3 levels "constant","aggregate",..: NA NA
  ..- attr(*, "names")= chr  "var" "geometry.y"

> st_crs(df)
    Coordinate Reference System:
      EPSG: 4326 
      proj4string: "+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +no_defs"