topic Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB in Python Questions

Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 14:02:38 GMT

Hello,

I have many feature classes in multiple gdbs that have empty feature classes. Is there anyway to automate a process to look through each .gdb, find the empty feature classes, and to delete the empty feature classes from the .gdb?

Thank you for your time all!

Regards,

Tom

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ChristianWells — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:48:20 GMT

Hi Tom,

You could try this out in Python using the GetCount_management() tool.

import arcpy

arcpy.env.workspace = <GDB>

fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()

for fc in fcList:
     result =  arcpy.GetCount_management(fc)
     count = int(result.getOutput(0))
     if count == 0:
          arcpy.Delete_management(fc)

Get Count (Data Management):

ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:48:23 GMT

This doesn't include the logic to iterate over the directories, but it satisfies a part of your request to delete the FC of a file geodatabase with zero features.

ws = r'C:\Default.gdb'
arcpy.env.workspace = ws
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
for fc in fcs:
 result = arcpy.GetCount_management(fc)
 countvalue = int(result.getOutput(0))
 if int(countvalue) == 0:
    arcpy.Delete_management(fc)

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:48:25 GMT

Since Christian was really quick with an answer , here's some more that will get you a bit closer to your full requirement. (sort of tested and only works for file geodatabases):

arcpy.env.workspace = <specify root folder here>
#loop through all folders in the workspace  
for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in arcpy.da.Walk(arcpy.env.workspace, datatype="Container"):
    for dirname in dirnames:
        if ".gdb" in dirname:
            ws = dirname
            arcpy.env.workspace = ws
            fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
            if not fcs is None:
                for fc in fcs:
                    result = arcpy.GetCount_management(fc)
                    countvalue = int(result.getOutput(0))
                    if int(countvalue) == 0:
                        print str(fc) + " has " + str(countvalue) + " rows features.  deleting...."
                        arcpy.Delete_management(fc)
                        print "deleted"

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:18:45 GMT

Hey James,

This looks like the exact solution that I am looking for. Thank you very much for the assistance. Looks like part of the code is missing on the right side. Do you have a screen shot of the missing part as well?

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:29:33 GMT

There's a scroll bar on the bottom of the code area. It's all there!

If that is what you needed then please mark it as the answer. If not then mark Christian's answer as the solution since he posted it up first. It helps others find the answer if they search for the same thing.

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:55:32 GMT

I am returning the following error for this script:

for fc in fcList:

TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

Is there a fix for this?

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:56:24 GMT

I am returning the following error for this script:

for fc in fcs:

TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

Is there a fix for this?

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:57:33 GMT

Sorry about that, I am new to this environment. I am not returning anything on the code listed above. After running module, nothing is returned. Anything on this?

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:58:53 GMT

Is there a fix for this?

Yes --- make sure your workspace is actually a workspace and not None. You might want to post up your complete code so that no one has to guess what is wrong.

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:08:11 GMT

Post your code exactly as you have it written. We can't guess.

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 19:35:30 GMT

import arcpy

arcpy.env.workspace = "D:\test_script\clip.gdb"

fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()

for fc in fcList:

result = arcpy.GetCount_management(fc)

count = int(result.getOutput(0))

if count == 0:

arcpy.Delete_management(fc)

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JamesCrandall — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:48:28 GMT

Your workspace is incorrect or doesn't exist. Double-check that path/name/etct.. This will print "fcList is None!" if it doesn't find it:

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = "D:\test_script\clip.gdb"
fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
if not fcList is None:
 for fc in fcList:
      result = arcpy.GetCount_management(fc)
      count = int(result.getOutput(0))
      if count == 0:
          arcpy.Delete_management(fc)
else:
 print "fcList is None!"

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

ThomasWhite4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 20:14:08 GMT

All works and all is fixed! Thank you for your time!

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

RobinLium — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 23:29:29 GMT

This worked amazingly well in a script I was running where I wanted to delete any outputs from an intersect for-loop.

I added a partial fc name to aid in my scripts efficiency:
fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("Waters*")

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

CarlosBustamante — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 15:30:08 GMT

And when the geodatabase has feature dataset? What would be the solution?

Re: Delete empty Feature Classes from GDB

JoshuaBixby — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 17:49:03 GMT

This is the best suggestion. Using ArcPy Walk is by far the most Pythonic approach to enumerating data sets.