[R] coalesce columns within a data frame

[Ivan Alves]

Dear all,

I searched the mail archives and the R site and found no guidance  
(tried "merge", "cbind" and terms like "coalesce" with no success).   
There surely is a way to coalesce (like in SQL) columns in a  
dataframe, right?  For example, I would like to go from a dataframe  
with two columns to one with only one as follows:

From

Name.x Name.y
nx1 ny1
nx2 NA
NA ny3
NA NA
...

To

Name
nx1
nx2
ny3
NA
...

where column Name.x is taken if there is a value, and if not then  
column Name.y

Any help would be appreciated

Kind regards,
Ivan