https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142622#M63703 <P>So this is pretty basic for many of you but I'm a novice when it comes to Python and this one's a doozie.</P><P>I concatenated two string fields and now I want to remove all text that I added. I separated them with a semicolon to make it clear where the concatenation occurred between the two field values. The problem is I cannot just use&nbsp;<EM>!Comments!.replace("; SAP Device Info field: WATER 5/8" ULTRASONIC METER", "")</EM> or some similar function because there are double quotes in the string to indicate inches. I'm making it a rule that we never double quotes for inches again, but this was the data I was given.</P><P>Not all fields are the same length, so I can't just trim the last x number of characters across the board either.</P><P>I read somewhere that I need a back slash near the double quote or to put the double quote inside of single quotes to exempt if from being recognized as part of the expression, but I can't make it work.</P><P>Example below:</P><P><span class="lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-inline" image-alt="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" style="width: 605px;"><img src="https://community.esri.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/33605iF02DDA251C414BB2/image-dimensions/605x143?v=v2" width="605" height="143" role="button" title="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" alt="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" /></span></P><P>Basically, how can I run through this field and get rid of everything after "; SAP Device Info field:"</P><P>How can I tell field calculator to trim after the semicolon? Or is there a better way?</P><P>Thanks in advance!</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:35:50 GMT BenCunningham 2022-02-10T14:35:50Z https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142622#M63703 <P>So this is pretty basic for many of you but I'm a novice when it comes to Python and this one's a doozie.</P><P>I concatenated two string fields and now I want to remove all text that I added. I separated them with a semicolon to make it clear where the concatenation occurred between the two field values. The problem is I cannot just use&nbsp;<EM>!Comments!.replace("; SAP Device Info field: WATER 5/8" ULTRASONIC METER", "")</EM> or some similar function because there are double quotes in the string to indicate inches. I'm making it a rule that we never double quotes for inches again, but this was the data I was given.</P><P>Not all fields are the same length, so I can't just trim the last x number of characters across the board either.</P><P>I read somewhere that I need a back slash near the double quote or to put the double quote inside of single quotes to exempt if from being recognized as part of the expression, but I can't make it work.</P><P>Example below:</P><P><span class="lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-inline" image-alt="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" style="width: 605px;"><img src="https://community.esri.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/33605iF02DDA251C414BB2/image-dimensions/605x143?v=v2" width="605" height="143" role="button" title="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" alt="BenCunningham_0-1644503130849.png" /></span></P><P>Basically, how can I run through this field and get rid of everything after "; SAP Device Info field:"</P><P>How can I tell field calculator to trim after the semicolon? Or is there a better way?</P><P>Thanks in advance!</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:35:50 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142622#M63703 BenCunningham 2022-02-10T14:35:50Z https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142646#M63704 <P>What if you use single quote instead.</P><LI-CODE lang="python">!Comments!.replace('; SAP Device Info field: WATER 5/8" ULTRASONIC METER', '')</LI-CODE> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 15:31:51 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142646#M63704 JayantaPoddar 2022-02-10T15:31:51Z https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142684#M63707 <P>You can also split at the colon, then take the part before the split.</P><LI-CODE lang="python">test1 = "juice:maps" # input test2 = test1.split(":")# split at the colon. yields ["juice", [maps"] test3 = test2[0] # grab the first item in the list. "juice"</LI-CODE><P>&nbsp;</P> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:17:36 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/python-questions/replacing-string-after-a-given-character-but/m-p/1142684#M63707 AlfredBaldenweck 2022-02-10T16:17:36Z