Fix hard returns/carriages in text fields using update cursor

tigerwoulds

Pretty new to cursors here - trying to write a script that will remove any hard 'returns'/newlines/carriages from any text values in a feature class.

For example, a user might enter:

What I need is:

Can someone clarify why I'm getting the error TypeError: sequence size must match size of the row.

import arcpy
import os
import time

# Start the clock
startTime = time.time()

# Input geodatabase with feature classes to update
inputGDB = r'C:\data\test.gdb'

# Set workspace to input GDB
arcpy.env.workspace = inputGDB

eolchar = ""

# Get a list of feature datasets
datasets = arcpy.ListDatasets(feature_type='feature')
datasets = [''] + datasets if datasets is not None else []

# Loop through all feature classes (including ones in feature datasets)
print('Reading Feature Classes...')
for ds in datasets:
    for fc in arcpy.ListFeatureClasses(feature_dataset=ds):
        # Get the name of the feature class
        path = os.path.join(arcpy.env.workspace, fc)
        desc = arcpy.Describe(path)
        fcName = desc.name
        print('Cleaning feature class: {}'.format(fcName))

        # Build a list of all TEXT/String Fields
        fieldList = [i.name for i in arcpy.ListFields(fc) if i.type == 'String']
        fieldList = ['OID@'] + fieldList

        # Iterate through each row and execute the clean
        # row = [i.replace(chr(10), eolchar).replace(chr(13), eolchar) if i is not None else i for i in row]

        with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(fc, fieldList) as cursor:
            for row in cursor:
                for i in row:
                    if i is not None:
                        if chr(10) in str(i) or chr(13) in str(i):
                            print('\nHard Return found in feature class: {}'.format(fc))
                            print('Object ID: {}'.format(row[0]))
                            print('There is a newline in {}'.format(i))
                            # print ('Field is {}'.format(fieldList))
                            row = i.replace(chr(10), eolchar).replace(chr(13), eolchar)
                            cursor.updateRow(row)

        print('Finished cleaning.')

print('Completed.')

 If I use the following below, it works. 

# row = [i.replace(chr(10), eolchar).replace(chr(13), eolchar) if i is not None else i for i in row]

 But I'm trying the print the Feature Class name, OID, and Field Name if/where any changes are made. Using the code above, how can I extract the field name where hard returns/carriages are removed?

Anonymous User

Taking David's enumerate example and changing the variables to match the index, value tuple it creates:

# Get a list of feature datasets
datasets = [ds for ds in arcpy.ListDatasets(feature_type='feature') if ds is not None]

# Loop through all feature classes (including ones in feature datasets)
print('Reading Feature Classes...')
for ds in datasets:
    for fc in arcpy.ListFeatureClasses(feature_dataset=ds):
        # Get the name of the feature class
        print('Cleaning feature class: {}'.format(fc))

        # Build a list of all TEXT/String Fields
        fieldList = [fld.name for fld in arcpy.ListFields(fc) if fld.type == 'String']
        fieldList = ['OID@'] + fieldList

        # Iterate through each row and execute the clean
        # row = [i.replace(chr(10), eolchar).replace(chr(13), eolchar) if i is not None else i for i in row]
        with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(fc, fieldList) as cursor:
            for row in cursor:
                changed = False
                # i is the index, val is the row[index] value
                for i, val in enumerate(row):
                    # Skip OID field, nulls and ''
                    if all([i != 0, val not in [None, '']]): #<- you can add ' ' if you want to exclude those values. 
                        # Check if the value ends in one of these
                        if val[-1] in [' ', '\t', '\n', '\r']:
                            changed = True # <- set flag to indicate this row has changes and should be updated
                            print('\nHard Return found in feature class: {}'.format(fc))
                            print('Object ID: {}'.format(row[0]))
                            print('There is a newline in {} val: {}'.format(fieldList[i], val))
                            row[i] = val.strip(' \t\n\r')

                # Check if anything changed and needs to be updated.
                if changed:
                    cursor.updateRow(row)

        print('Finished cleaning.')