melt supports patterns with id.vars

Author: tdhock

NEWS.md

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 1. New `sort_by()` method for data.tables, [#6662](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/6662). It uses `forder()` to improve upon the data.frame method and also match `DT[order(...)]` behavior with respect to locale. Thanks @rikivillalba for the suggestion and PR.
 
+2. `melt()` now supports using `patterns()` with `id.vars`, [#6867](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/6867). Thanks to Toby Dylan Hocking for the suggestion and PR.
+
 ## BUG FIXES
 
 1. Custom binary operators from the `lubridate` package now work with objects of class `IDate` as with a `Date` subclass, [#6839](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/issues/6839). Thanks @emallickhossain for the report and @aitap for the fix.