topic Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name in Python Questions

How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:01 GMT

Hello everyone, i have a problem with my point shapefiles in which i implement a big procession. The problem is that although all the shapefiles have the same columns there is one which starts with "P500" AND continues differently to each one which in some it is sort ascended and in others sort descended. Is there a way with python where i can sort ascend this column for every point file by using "P500" as wildcard. I tried it but my FID changed also causing me problems.

In some shp i have this and in some other this(problem) and i want it to be like the first two columns

FID PNT500B FID PNT500C20

0 0 0 3

1 1 1 2

2 2 2 1

3 3 3 0

This is the code i have written but it doesn't work properly

import arcpy
from arcpy import env
arcpy.env.workspace = "c:/Bo/Well/Point"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("samp*", "point")
fields = arcpy.ListFields(fcs, "P500*", "Double")
for fc in fcs:
   for fiel in fields:
  arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fiel, "ASCENDING"]])

Re: How to sort a field without changing the FID

SepheFox — Sun, 24 May 2015 18:34:11 GMT

I'm not really clear on what you're trying to do. Do you want the fid in the same order as the other field?

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 24 May 2015 20:16:22 GMT

No, i don't want to change the FID. In some of my shp the column "P500" is ascended starting from 0 but in some is descended starting from for example 20. I want to sort ascend all my shp based in their fields which start from "P500". The main problem is that the name of that field in each shp is different after the first 4 characters (for example P500r21 or PM500_20EF) that's why i am trying to use a wildcard to do it.

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

SepheFox — Sun, 24 May 2015 22:35:27 GMT

I believe you would just use the field name"P500*". That's a star to donate the wildcard.

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 24 May 2015 22:40:14 GMT

Sephe i run it in Python window but i get an

Runtime error

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<string>", line 5, in <module>

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\__init__.py", line 1119, in ListFields

return gp.listFields(dataset, wild_card, field_type)

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 344, in listFields

self._gp.ListFields(*gp_fixargs(args, True)))

IOError: "#" does not

exist

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:03 GMT

I assume you want to loop through all the "samp*" shapefiles in the given path and for each "P500*" field sort it and store the result as a new featureclass.

If this is true, you could use something like this:

import arcpy, os
arcpy.env.workspace = "c:/Bo/Well/Point"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("samp*", "point")
for fc in fcs:
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fcs, "PNT500*", "Double")
    for fld in fields:
        fc_sort = "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name)
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

Observations:

eliminated the "from arcpy import env" since you don't use it
list the fields for each featureclass (inside the loop through the featureclasses
In the example your fields start with PNT500, not P500
you should provide the output name fc_sort, in this case it creates a shapefile based on the input featureclass name and the field used to sort it
the field for sorting it the name of the field, not a field object, hence "fld.name"

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:06 GMT

Mr Bakker thanks a lot for your response. I tried to make a tool with your scipt because i want to run it inside modelbuilder but it fails. Here is the code. I changed the "samp" and "PNT500" cause i run the model again and i have different names now. But i cannot see where the problem is

import arcpy, os
env.workspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", "point")  
for fc in fcs:  
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fcs, "P10*", "Double")  
    for fld in fields:  
        fc_sort = "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name)  
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

I get that error

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "C:\Users\Kostas\Desktop\Xander.py", line 5, in <module>

fields = arcpy.ListFields(fcs, "P10*", "Double")

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\__init__.py", line 1119, in ListFields

return gp.listFields(dataset, wild_card, field_type)

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 344, in listFields

self._gp.ListFields(*gp_fixargs(args, True)))

IOError: "[u'evsamp10c10.shp', u'evsamp10c20.shp', u'evsamp10c30.shp', u'evsamp10c40.shp', u'evsamp10c50.shp', u'evsamp10c60.shp', u'evsamp10cb.shp', u'evsamp10cm10.shp', u'evsamp10cm20.shp', u'evsamp10cm30.shp', u'evsamp10cm40.shp', u'evsamp10cm50.shp', u'evsamp10cm60.shp', u'evsort10.shp']" does not exist

Failed to execute

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Mon, 25 May 2015 02:08:13 GMT

Oops, I see the error. The ListFields takes the featureclass as input not the list of featureclasses. Change "fcs" to "fc".

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:09 GMT

I changed it like that but nothing changed

import arcpy, os
env.workspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", "point")
for fc in fcs:
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc, "P10*", "Double")
    for fld in fields:
        fc_sort = "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name)
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Mon, 25 May 2015 02:53:45 GMT

I think line 2 should also yield an error, since you are not importing env from arcpy and set the workspace directly to env.workspace. Either add the line from arcpy import env or change line 2 to arcpy.env.workspace = ...

You state that nothing changed, but the same error cannot occur.

The list of featureclasses "fcs" is [u'evsamp10c10.shp', u'evsamp10c20.shp', u'evsamp10c30.shp', u'evsamp10c40.shp', u'evsamp10c50.shp', u'evsamp10c60.shp', u'evsamp10cb.shp', u'evsamp10cm10.shp', u'evsamp10cm20.shp', u'evsamp10cm30.shp', u'evsamp10cm40.shp', u'evsamp10cm50.shp', u'evsamp10cm60.shp', u'evsort10.shp']. You loop through this list and for each fc (like 'evsamp10c10.shp') you list the fields. What is the exact error?

If you are willing to attach some sample files I can check if it works on my computer...

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:11 GMT

I created two shapefiles starting with "ev" and added some fields starting with "P10" and ran this code:

import arcpy, os
# env.workspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\Forum\SortFields"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", "point")
print fcs
for fc in fcs:
    print fc
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc, "P10*", "Double")
    for fld in fields:
        print fld.name
        fc_sort = "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name)
        print fc_sort
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

The output printed is:

[u'evsamp10c10.shp', u'evsamp10cm50.shp']
evsamp10c10.shp
P10bla
evsamp10c10_P10bla.shp
evsamp10cm50.shp
P10a
evsamp10cm50_P10a.shp
P10b
evsamp10cm50_P10b.shp

The output shapefile are sorted on the field provided...

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Mon, 25 May 2015 04:32:25 GMT

i tried it again but the data in shapefiles remain unsorted.. If you could try with these 6 shp would be great !!!

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:13 GMT

I just ran the code and at first there was no result (no error either). When I looked at the data I noticed that the P10 fields are not double, but long. So if you use "Integer" in ListFields you will get the result.

Code used:

import arcpy, os
# env.workspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
arcpy.env.workspace = r"D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", "point")

# define a output folder, to store the results
out_fldr = r"D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result"

print fcs
for fc in fcs:
    print fc
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc, "P10*", "Integer")
    print fields
    for fld in fields:
        print " - {0}".format(fld.name)
        fc_sort = os.path.join(out_fldr, "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name))
        print " - {0}".format(fc_sort)
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

Result printed:

[u'evsamp10c10.shp', u'evsamp10c20.shp', u'evsamp10c30.shp', u'evsamp10cm10.shp', u'evsamp10cm20.shp', u'evsamp10cm30.shp']
evsamp10c10.shp
[<Field object at 0x2301df0[0x22cecb0]>]
 - P10C10
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10c10_P10C10.shp
evsamp10c20.shp
[<Field object at 0x23016b0[0x22cede8]>]
 - P10C20
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10c20_P10C20.shp
evsamp10c30.shp
[<Field object at 0x23695f0[0x22ce338]>]
 - P10C30
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10c30_P10C30.shp
evsamp10cm10.shp
[<Field object at 0x2369790[0x22ced10]>]
 - P10CM10
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10cm10_P10CM10.shp
evsamp10cm20.shp
[<Field object at 0x2369190[0x22cede8]>]
 - P10CM20
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10cm20_P10CM20.shp
evsamp10cm30.shp
[<Field object at 0x23695f0[0x22ce338]>]
 - P10CM30
 - D:\Xander\GeoNet\SortFields\result\evsamp10cm30_P10CM30.shp

See attached results.

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:16 GMT

Mr Bakker thanks a lot for your time. I ve written this but still doesn't work, either it succeded without results or it raised an error. Is there any difference if the folder i have my shp is named points or Points or Kos etc? Is there any problem with the folder i choose to save the new fc? This is the code for the tool:

import arcpy
import os
from arcpy import env
arcpy.overwriteOutput = True
inWorkspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", inWorkspace)    
# define a output folder, to store the results  
out_fldr = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1) 
for fc in fcs:  
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc, "P10*", "Integer")  
    for fld in fields:  
        fc_sort = os.path.join(out_fldr, "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name))  
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

And these are the parameters i defined, i also tried to put outfolder as workspace

but i still get that error:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "C:\Users\Kos\Desktop\scriptsort.py", line 6, in <module>

fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", inWorkspace)

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\__init__.py", line 896, in ListFeatureClasses

return gp.listFeatureClasses(wild_card, feature_type, feature_dataset)

File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.2\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 314, in listFeatureClasses

self._gp.ListFeatureClasses(*gp_fixargs(args, True)))

RuntimeError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.

Feature type is invalid

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:02:19 GMT

The error "Feature type is invalid" refers to the "ListFeatureClasses(wild_card, feature_type, feature_dataset)" function.

Change your code into this:

import arcpy
import os
inWorkspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True
arcpy.env.workspace = inWorkspace

fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("ev*", "point")
# define a output folder, to store the results
out_fldr = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
for fc in fcs:
    fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc, "P10*", "Integer")
    for fld in fields:
        fc_sort = os.path.join(out_fldr, "{0}_{1}.shp".format(os.path.splitext(fc)[0], fld.name))
        arcpy.Sort_management(fc, fc_sort, [[fld.name, "ASCENDING"]])

When you define the parameters of the Toolbox script, you should define the direction of the output folder as input. Although your (output) results will be written to this folder, it is actually an input variable for the tool.

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Mon, 25 May 2015 18:09:12 GMT

You are the One. The Guru of python. Thanks a lot for your time Mr. Bakker. It works perfectly at last!!! (i could have never thought of that with the "output")

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

XanderBakker — Mon, 25 May 2015 18:12:30 GMT

Glad it works for you. Many of us have struggled with the "output" being of direction input...

Re: How to sort a field using a wildcard for its name

KONPETROV — Tue, 26 May 2015 05:06:38 GMT

Mr Bakker one last tricky question. I have a problem with the code above due to that reason (output) at modelbuilder, because i don't have really an output to use as a precondition to an another tool. How can i make an output for this tool?