Select_analysis

Question

Not sure if this is a bug or as intended.# Set local variables
in_features = "working.gdb\linefile"
out_feature_class = "C:/output/linefile_zeros.shp"
where_clause = '"\"Shape_Length\" = 0''

# Execute Select
arcpy.Select_analysis(in_features, out_feature_class, where_clause)

What I expected -
in the shapefile linefile_zeros would be all the line features with a zero line length.

What I get -
The original file "linefile" now contains all of the zero length lines and linefile_zero now contains all of the features (zero's and greater)

Is this working as intended?

MathewCoyle · Answer

It is definitely not how the tool works in 10.0. I'd suspect some kind of bug.

ScottBlankenbeckler · Answer

If it makes it easier for you to understand this is the line of code as it rest in my script    # Process: Select
    arcpy.Select_analysis(IN_line, OUT_zero, "\"Shape_Length\" = 0")

I just thought I would be nice and put what formats of input and output were expected. This is important when building the where clause as the format of the field would be different based on the format of the input storage.

I am running ArcMap 10.1 pre-release. I am posting here because I have never used this function in a script and was not sure if this was the typical output for this function.  I was hoping someone using 10.0 or earlier would say "Yes it has always been that way.", or "No it shouldn't.", or even "I works correctly in my code."  At that point I would know how to proceed, either with a bug report of change my code so it uses the data as outputted.

MathewCoyle · Answer

I was just trying to work from the ground up to see what the issue might be. It is difficult to troubleshoot without the actual code you are executing. Have you tried creating a feature layer of your input feature class and running the select tool on that layer instead? Also, what version of ArcGIS are you using?