Difference between AddFieldDelimiters and ValidateFieldName

JianLiu2 — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:39:51 GMT

For the script as below, can I directly use fieldname, rather than newName in SQL? (so delete newName = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters("C:/Data", fieldName) ...)

If not, why? When to use AddFieldDelimiters? Any difference to ValidateFieldName? Thanks indeed!!

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

fieldName = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
wkspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
in_features = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(2)
out_feat_class = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(3)
stateVal = arcpy.GetParameterAstext(4)

# AddFieldDelimieters will return a field name will the proper
# field delimiters for the workspace specified.
#
newName = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters("C:/Data", fieldName)

# Use delimited field for Select tool SQL expression
#
sqlExp = newName + " = " + stateVal
env.workspace = wkspace
arcpy.Select_analysis(in_features, out_feat_class, sqlExp)

Re: Difference between AddFieldDelimiters and ValidateFieldName

StephenBarrow — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:46:15 GMT

For the script as below, can I directly use fieldname, rather than newName in SQL? (so delete newName = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters("C:/Data", fieldName) ...)

If not, why? When to use AddFieldDelimiters? Any difference to ValidateFieldName? Thanks indeed!!

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

fieldName = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
wkspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
in_features = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(2)
out_feat_class = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(3)
stateVal = arcpy.GetParameterAstext(4)

# AddFieldDelimieters will return a field name will the proper
# field delimiters for the workspace specified.
#
newName = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters("C:/Data", fieldName)

# Use delimited field for Select tool SQL expression
#
sqlExp = newName + " = " + stateVal
env.workspace = wkspace
arcpy.Select_analysis(in_features, out_feat_class, sqlExp)

The AddFieldDelimiters will add the correct surrounds for the field depending on the source location for example [field] 'field' field etc as different workspaces need different ones.

Use AddFieldDelimiters when constructing a SQL statement as these save you some work in getting it right.

ValidateFieldName removes invalid characters form a field name (usually user typed) so it will conform and not cause code to crash by replacing invalid characters with an underscore.

hth

Stephen

topic Difference between AddFieldDelimiters and ValidateFieldName in Python Questions

Difference between AddFieldDelimiters and ValidateFieldName

Re: Difference between AddFieldDelimiters and ValidateFieldName