# NOT RUN {
DT = data.table(x1 = 1:5, x2 = 6:10, y1 = letters[1:5], y2 = letters[6:10])
# melt all columns that begin with 'x' & 'y', respectively, into separate columns
melt(DT, measure.vars = patterns("^x", "^y", cols=names(DT)))
# when used with melt, 'cols' is implictly assumed to be names of input
# data.table, if not provided.
melt(DT, measure.vars = patterns("^x", "^y"))
# }
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