topic ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

VincentLaunstorfer — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:13:42 GMT

Hi,

Data in FGDB have Null values by default in numeric fields. When performing calculation, it cannot sum fields where Null values occur.

My question is how to replace all Null values to 0 - in several/all numeric fields - in one go?

Or, potentially, I can use the Calculate Fields tool but what could be an expression to replace Null to 0 on a single line (cannot use expression on multiple line with this tool) ?

On single line, I tried:

if None: 0

if Null: return 0
if None: return 0
replace(Null, 0)

...obviously, none worked!

Thanks

Re: ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

KoryKramer — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 20:58:29 GMT

Obviously, first make sure that it is valid to change Null values to 0. Are they really 0, or could they be another value and you just don't know?...

Anyway, if you use the Reclassify helper:

You can then quickly modify it to look something like:

Result:

You can obviously write this yourself - I'm just pointing you to the Helpers, because they're designed to give a kick-start on some of the more common functions...

Re: ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

JoshuaBixby — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 22:14:32 GMT

Your attempts weren't working in with Calculate Field because 3 of the 4 are not valid Python statements and the 4th just doesn't do anything:

if None: 0             # doesn't do anything
if Null: return 0      # SyntaxError: 'return' outside function
if None: return 0      # SyntaxError: 'return' outside function
replace(Null, 0)       # NameError: name 'replace' is not defined‍‍‍‍

What you can use is a Conditional expression — Python 3.7.5rc1 documentation , a.k.a, ternary operator, to do a simple reclassification.

0 if !field! is None else !field!‍

Re: ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

VincentLaunstorfer — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:50:14 GMT

Thanks for all your suggestions...

Initially, I was asking how to use an expression to replace Null to 0 on a single line in Calculate Fields in order to use a generic expression stored in a model variable in ModelBuilder... All the solutions mentioned above worked but I always have to "hard code" the field name in the expression and this cannot use it as a generic variable in ModelBuiler. It that's make sense.

Re: ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

JoshuaBixby — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 16:13:53 GMT

Ah, I see what you are asking. I don't work with Model Builder.

Re: ArcGIS Pro 2.4 | How to replace Null values (stored in number fields) to 0 for field calculation?

TyburCasuse — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:05:31 GMT

When I did this the values above a certain number were made into out of range values which were not recognized as numbers for some reason. The data type was double for the original column with null values and for the new field. Any idea why that would happen or how to fix that?