Closes #593 -- added edit.data.table

NAMESPACE

@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ export(dcast, melt)
 S3method(dcast, data.table)
 S3method(melt, data.table)
 
-# exported for historical reasons -- if reshape2 is higher on search path, 
+# exported for historical reasons -- if reshape2 is higher on search path,
 # dcast(DT) will not dispatch since reshape2::dcast is not generic. So users
 # and many packges on CRAN call dcast.data.table() and/or melt.data.table() directly. See #3082.
 export(melt.data.table, dcast.data.table)
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ S3method(seq, ITime)
 S3method(unique, IDate)
 S3method(unique, ITime)
 S3method('[<-', IDate)
+S3method(edit, data.table)
 
 # duplist
 # getdots

NEWS.md

@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@
 
 22. `transpose` gains `keep.names=` and `make.names=` arguments, [#1886](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/1886). Previously, column names were dropped and there was no way to keep them. `keep.names="rn"` keeps the column names and puts them in the `"rn"` column of the result. Similarly, `make.names="rn"` uses column `"rn"` as the column names of the result. Both arguments are `NULL` by default for backwards compatibility. As these new arguments are new, they are subject to change in future according to community feedback. Thanks to @ghost for the request.
 
+23. Added a `data.table` method for `utils::edit` to ensure a `data.table` is returned, for convenience, [#593](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/593).
+
 #### BUG FIXES
 
 1. `first`, `last`, `head` and `tail` by group no longer error in some cases, [#2030](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/2030) [#3462](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/3462). Thanks to @franknarf1 for reporting.

R/utils.R

@@ -109,3 +109,9 @@ do_patterns = function(pat_sub, all_cols) {
 
   return(matched)
 }
+
+# nocov start #593 always return a data.table
+edit.data.table = function(name, ...) {
+  setDT(NextMethod('edit', name))[]
+}
+# nocov end