invalid syntax: MakeFeatureLayer_management

DamonOsbourne

Have both the streams and schools layers in my active arcmap session.  I am using arcmap's Python window to run this script in a python tutorial that finds schools within a specified distance from streams.  Here's the code, error is on line 9:

import arcpy
>>> arcpy.env.workspace = "c:/GIS/Python/data/TravisCounty"
>>> try:
...     streams = "Streams.shp"
...     streamBuffer = "StreamsBuffer.shp"
...     distance = "2640 Feet"
...     schools2mile = "Schools.shp"
...     arcpy.Buffer_analysis(streams,streamBuffer,distance,'FULL','ROUND','ALL')
...     arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(schools2mile,'Schools2Mile_lyr')
...     arcpy.SelectLayerByLocation_management('Schools2Mile_lyr','intersect',streamBuffer)
...     except:
...         print 'Error'
...        
Parsing error SyntaxError: invalid syntax (line 9)

T__WayneWhitley

I may be wrong but is the line 9 actually referring to your print statement?  I don't usually run code this way but I think you could confirm the suspicion by running without the try-except block...run the code statements directly, or if that isn't it, check your lyr references to make sure they're valid, although I pretty certain you'd get a different error intead of a 'parsing' error.


Hope that helps,
Wayne

NOTE:  Okay, I was curious to fiddle around with this some more and it seems you have an indention error with 'except' -- in my app, if typing in the commands manually, I have to backspace 4 spaces to 'align' the try/except....essentially this tells the interpreter that the 'except' block is beginning, that the 'try' block has ended.

I really didn't know this until I tried loading a script and noticed the left justification.  It may be more intuitive to write your script using IDLE and save it to a py file, then load it into the Python window by right-clicking in the window and navigating to where you saved your py file and selecting to open it...
I don't do it this way, but it may provide a more interactive experience for you, and it's nice to know I have that option.

Thanks,
Wayne