Set R data.table row order by chaining 2 columns

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to order an R data table based on the chaining of 2 columns.

Here's my sample data.table.

dt <- data.table(id = c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'A')
         , col1 = c(7521, 0, 7915, 5222, 5703)
         , col2 = c(7907, 5703, 8004, 7521, 5222))

   id col1 col2
1:  A 7521 7907
2:  A    0 5703
3:  A 7915 8004
4:  A 5222 7521
5:  A 5703 5222

I need the row order to start with col1 = 0. The col1 value in row 2 should be equal to the value of col2 in the preceding row, and so on.

Additionally, there generally should always be a matching value that chains the row order. But if not, it should select the closest value (see rows 4 & 5 below).

The outcome I'm looking for is shown below:

   id col1 col2
1:  A    0 5703
2:  A 5703 5222
3:  A 5222 7521
4:  A 7521 7907
5:  A 7915 8004

I think I can write a crazy function to do this.. but I'm wondering if there's an elegant data.table solution.

EDIT
I updated the table to include an additional ID with duplicate rows, and a unique source column:

dt <- data.table(id = c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B')
               , col1 = c(7521, 0, 7915, 5222, 5703, 1644, 1625, 0, 1625, 1625)
               , col2 = c(7907, 5703, 8004, 7521, 5222, 1625, 1625, 1644, 1625, 1505)
               , source = c('c', 'b', 'a', 'e', 'd', 'y', 'z', 'x', 'w', 'v'))

    id col1 col2 source
 1:  A 7521 7907      c
 2:  A    0 5703      b
 3:  A 7915 8004      a
 4:  A 5222 7521      e
 5:  A 5703 5222      d
 6:  B 1644 1625      y
 7:  B 1625 1625      z
 8:  B    0 1644      x
 9:  B 1625 1625      w
10:  B 1625 1505      v

There can be matching values within an ID. See B, rows 7 & 9 above. However, there's a unique source for each row where this data comes from.

The desired output would be:

    id col1 col2 source
 1:  A    0 5703      b
 2:  A 5703 5222      d
 3:  A 5222 7521      e
 4:  A 7521 7907      c
 5:  A 7915 8004      a
 6:  B    0 1644      x
 7:  B 1644 1625      y
 8:  B 1625 1625      w
 9:  B 1625 1625      z
10:  B 1625 1625      v

In the output, the matching rows, 8 & 9 could be in any order.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Here is an option using igraph with data.table:

#add id in front of cols to distinguishes them as vertices
cols <- paste0("col", 1L:2L)
dt[, (cols) := lapply(.SD, function(x) paste0(id, x)), .SDcols=cols]

#permutations of root nodes and leaf nodes
chains <- dt[, CJ(root=setdiff(col1, col2), leaf=setdiff(col2, col1)), id]

#find all paths from root nodes to leaf nodes
#note that igraph requires vertices to be of character type
library(igraph)
g <- graph_from_data_frame(dt[, .(col1, col2)])
l <- lapply(unlist(
  apply(chains, 1L, function(x) all_simple_paths(g, x[["root"]], x[["leaf"]])), 
  recursive=FALSE), names)
links <- data.table(g=rep(seq_along(l), lengths(l)), col1=unlist(l))

#look up edges
dt[links, on=.(col1), nomatch=0L]

output:

    id  col1  col2 source g
 1:  A    A0 A5703      b 1
 2:  A A5703 A5222      d 1
 3:  A A5222 A7521      e 1
 4:  A A7521 A7907      c 1
 5:  A A7915 A8004      a 2
 6:  B    B0 B1644      x 3
 7:  B B1644 B1625      y 3
 8:  B B1625 B1625      z 3
 9:  B B1625 B1625      w 3
10:  B B1625 B1505      v 3

data:

library(data.table)
dt <- data.table(id = c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B')
  , col1 = c(7521, 0, 7915, 5222, 5703, 1644, 1625, 0, 1625, 1625)
  , col2 = c(7907, 5703, 8004, 7521, 5222, 1625, 1625, 1644, 1625, 1505)
  , source = c('c', 'b', 'a', 'e', 'd', 'y', 'z', 'x', 'w', 'v'))