topic Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label in Python Questions

Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

JarettBell — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:53:00 GMT

Hello everyone,

I am not new to ArcMap, however I am in need of some help. I want to shorten a numeric label. Specifically I want to shorten 3001522708 to 22708. This data is tabulated into an attributes table, and is displayed easily by the labels tab in properties, however it is to long. I have already looked up other methods to shorten and/or change the labels using VBScript, Python, or JScript but I do not know the specific code to remove the first 5 numbers.

Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 05:25:21 GMT

Here's background on what one can do with labeling:

Building label expressions—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

As for your specific request, in VB Script I believe one would employ a RIGHT function and in Python one would use SLICING.

Right Function VB Script

Cutting and slicing strings in Python - Python Central

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

DanPatterson_Retired — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:59:05 GMT

The trouble with conversions is whether the conditions are already met. In your case you indicate a slicing off of the first 5 positions. This implies that

there will always be more than 5 characters
the returned result will be of the same form as the input

Python examples, since they tend to be simple to understand ...

>>> a = 3001522708
>>> str(a)[5:]
'22708'
>>> int(str(a)[5:])
22708‍‍‍‍‍

line 1 your input is a number

line 2 conversion to string is required for slicing, and keep only the 'positions' after the 5th

line 3 the result is a conversion of type to string with the first 5 removed

line 4 assuming that the original numeric format is needed, this needs to be returned to integer

line 5 the result after conversion to string, slicing, conversion back

An example of an exception and what to do, can get complex,

>>> int(str(a)[5:]) if len(str(a))>5 else -999
-999‍‍

So attention to the small details is important.

Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

RhettZufelt — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:59:08 GMT

Not sure if you got this figured out, but this is one way.

this will label with the last 5 digits of the numeric field as long as there are 5 or more digits. If less than 5, it will just label with however many it can get.

>>> a = 3001522708
>>> str(a)[-5:]
'22708'
>>> a = 1234
>>> str(a)[-5:]
'1234'
>>> ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

DanPatterson_Retired — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 00:54:46 GMT

You shouldn't really mark your own thread helpful... it draws moderator attention as well as those that posted in the thread

Re: Best Way to Shorten a Numeric Label

RhettZufelt — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 00:56:28 GMT

Thanks, didn't realize I did that.

For that matter, didn't know that you could.

Apparently I can't "un-mark" it?