Best approach to combine multiple MySQL tables in R

Question

What is the best approach to combine multiple MySQL tables in R? For instance, I need to rbind 14 large `MySQL tables (each >100k rows by 100 columns). I tried the below approach, which consumed most of my memory and got time out from MySQL. I am wondering if there is alternative solution? I do not need to fetch the whole table, just need group the whole table by a couple of variables and calculate some metrics.

station_tbl_t <- dbSendQuery(my_db, "select * from tbl_r3_300ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r4_350ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r5_400ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r6_500ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r7_600ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r8_700ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r9_800ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r10_900ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r11_1000ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r12_1200ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r13_1400ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r14_1600ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r15_1800ft
                  union all
                  select * from tbl_r16_2000ft
                  ")

Answer 1

Consider iteratively importing MySQL table data and then row bind with R. And be sure to select needed columns to save on overhead:

tbls <- c("tbl_r3_300ft", "tbl_r4_350ft", "tbl_r5_400ft", 
          "tbl_r6_500ft", "tbl_r7_600ft", "tbl_r8_700ft", 
          "tbl_r9_800ft", "tbl_r10_900ft", "tbl_r11_1000ft", 
          "tbl_r12_1200ft", "tbl_r13_1400ft", "tbl_r14_1600ft", 
          "tbl_r15_1800ft", "tbl_r16_2000ft")

sql <- "SELECT Col1, Col2, Col3 FROM" 

dfList <- lapply(paste(sql, tbls), function(s) {
             tryCatch({ return(dbGetQuery(my_db, s)) 
                      }, error = function(e) return(as.character(e)))
          })

# ROW BIND VERSIONS ACROSS PACKAGES
master_df <- base::do.call(rbind, dfList)
master_df <- plyr::rbind.fill(dfList)
master_df <- dplyr::bind_rows(dfList)
master_df <- data.table::rbindlist(dfList)