topic Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder in Geoprocessing Questions

Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

JeffPickles — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:46:43 GMT

Is there a way to programmatically export a shapefile or feature class from Modelbuilder that has the current date in its filename?

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

KevinHibma — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:25:50 GMT

Jeff,

I'm assuming you're on 10.
Check the toolbox I've attached. You dont need to script this.
You'll see its just a copy features and a Calc Value.
The Calc value has a python snippet to calc the date. The output of this is "outDate"

I've then used the inline variable %outDate% as the name of the featureclass.

I grabbed the snippet from:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Calculate_Field_examples/00170000004s000000/
Depending on how you write out

time.strftime("%d/%m/%Y")

(d/MM/yyyy etc etc), you can get different dates. Also remember the featureclass name cant start with a number.

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

RyanStillman — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:54:24 GMT

I was googling how to do something similar and this little discussion eventually lead me to my solution.

It can be done by placing a Calculate Value Tool in your model and setting its expression to:

time.strftime("%Y%m%d")

The output value will be a date or time in the format you specify between the "s. This link has a nice table with helpful explanations about the different date and time formatting options and possible associated limitations or restrictions: 8.1. datetime - Basic date and time types - Python v2.7.8 documentation‌.

My example has the particular format(%Y%m%d) such that if the model were run on June 8, 2001, the output value from the tool would be the string '20010608'.

You can then rename the output value(green bubble) to ANYTHING and then elsewhere in your model you can reference that value by inserting %ANYTHING% into filenames or location dialogues throughout the rest of the model, just like other in-line variables.

I hope this helps you out, 3½ years late, or more likely, somebody else with the same question.

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

SaraBarnes — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 19:14:25 GMT

Thanks for posting Ryan Stillman‌ - your late reply helped me figure this out!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

JulieScott-Ashe1 — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:42:11 GMT

Thank you for posting this - it worked perfectly.

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

JasonHrubizna — Tue, 24 May 2016 23:51:56 GMT

Helped me too, thanks for posting!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

curtvprice — Wed, 25 May 2016 00:40:18 GMT

The Calculate Value tool really makes Model Builder a lot more useful -- and a little Python knowledge goes a long way with that thing!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

NedCake1 — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:55:49 GMT

Works great! Thanks for the post.

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

WilliamJackson4 — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:54:53 GMT

Odd, the example doesn't seem to work for me. I'm running 10.3.1. If I run in a python script it works fine but not so much in Model Builder where the variable is assigned a "1". Any suggestions?

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

Anonymous User — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 14:55:11 GMT

William, I was having the same issue but then I connected the output date (green bubble) as a precondition variable to the tools (yellow bubble) that I ran and it worked for me!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

DianaHutt — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 23:28:34 GMT

Thank you!!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

LindsayRaabe_FPCWA — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 03:57:29 GMT

I seem to be having similar issues. I was getting the "1" output but now I get the date but also keep getting errors about incorrect naming. Can anyone tell me what name is wrong? The original demo tool provided further up has the same issue!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

curtvprice — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 16:37:55 GMT

I answered here https://community.esri.com/thread/204767-why-wont-my-date-variable-work

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

AurelijaViluckyte — Sat, 28 Apr 2018 16:54:08 GMT

Worked for me also, thanks mate!

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

ShariForbes — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 15:19:01 GMT

Helped me too! Never too late.

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

MichelleWalker — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 13:21:35 GMT

thanks so much - this worked great and really helped me

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

curtvprice — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 22:21:00 GMT

Great, also see:

Formatting date as string from user input date value in ModelBuilder‌

Re: Inserting Current Date into Filename via Modelbuilder

DanSadler1 — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 21:37:33 GMT

Almost a decade after you posted, and your answer still works - even in ArcGIS Pro! The (possible?) difference from ArcMap is you access Calculate Value in Pro via its own item in the ModelBuilder ribbon under Utilities and set the data type as string.

I hope this helps other ArcGIS Pro folks who surf here as this thread was the top search engine result.