Get elements by position from one data frame to another - r

Question

Let's say we have two data frames:
df1 <- data.frame(A = letters[1:3], B = letters[4:6], C = letters[7:9], stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
A B C
1 a d g
2 b e h
3 c f i
df2 <- data.frame(V1 = 1:3, V2 = 4:6, V3 = 7:9)
V1 V2 V3
1 1 4 7
2 2 5 8
3 3 6 9
I need to build a function that takes as input a single value or a vector containing elements from one of the data frames and returns the elements from the other data frame according to their positional indexes.
The function should work like this:
> matchdf(values = c("a", "e", "i"), dfin = df1, dfout = df2)
[1] 1 5 9
> matchdf(values = c(1, 5, 9), dfin = df2, dfout = df1)
[1] "a" "e" "i"
> matchdf(values = c(1, 1, 1), dfin = df2, dfout = df1)
[1] "a" "a" "a"
This is what I have tried so far:
requiere(dplyr)
toVec <- function(df) df %>% as.matrix %>% as.vector
matchdf <- function(values, dfin, dfout) toVec(dfout)[toVec(dfin) %in% values]
# But sometimes the output values aren't in correct order:
> matchdf(c("c", "i", "h"), dt1, dt2)
[1] 3 8 9
# should output 3 9 8
> matchdf(values = c("a", "a", "a"), dfin = dt1, dfout = dt2)
[1] 1
# Should output 1 1 1
Feel free to use data.table or/and dplyr if it eases the task. I would prefer a solution without for loops.
Assumptions:
elements from df1 are different from df2
dim(df1) = dim(df2)

Answer 1

matchdf <- function(values, dfin, dfout){
unlist(sapply(values,
function(val) dfout[dfin == val],
USE.NAMES = F)
)
}
matchdf(c("c", "i", "h"), df1, df2)
#should output 3 9 8
[1] 3 9 8
matchdf(values = c("a", "a", "a"), dfin = df1, dfout = df2)
#should output 1 1 1
[1] 1 1 1
matchdf(values = c("X", "Y", "a"), dfin = df1, dfout = df2)
#should output vector, not list
[1] 1