topic Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt? in Data Management Questions

Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

Nicole_Ueberschär — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 10:28:06 GMT

I thought first I should put it as a discussion but actually I am interested in an answer...

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 12:13:42 GMT

image missing

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

DanPatterson_Retired — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:10:47 GMT

but on a guess it could be an internal sorting issue...

a = ['A', 'a', 'aA', 'B', 'b']

a
Out[2]: ['A', 'a', 'aA', 'B', 'b']

a.sort()

a
Out[4]: ['A', 'B', 'a', 'aA', 'b']‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

If not, a good lesson in what is expected, isn't always what 'is'

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

Nicole_Ueberschär — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 07:52:50 GMT

This is how the table looks like after I opened the txt in ArcMap:

This is how the table looks like after I exported it into the gdb (which is the correct order of columns):

So what I can say (just seeing it now :-)) is that ArcMap seems to display first those columns that have valid field names and after that those columns that have blanks or special characters in the original field name, thus are converted into alias names.

Good to know...

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

DanPatterson_Retired — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:51:59 GMT

It seems to drop a lot of fields as well,

it would have been useful to see the original and alias name list for testing purposes.

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

Nicole_Ueberschär — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:59:02 GMT

It's a very long table that's why not all field names are visible. From what I found until now, none of the fields is dropped, just moved to a different column.

I am happy to share with you a file with the field names (will come by pm).

Re: Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

DanPatterson_Retired — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 10:14:06 GMT

thanks