arcpy.da.SearchCursor got the unexpected string from the field

[SLH]

Hi, there, 

I am learning Arcpy from ArcGIS Desktop 10.6.1. I have a feature class which has a field called "CondSize". This field has some texts such as '1/0', '2/0', '500', '1' etc. When I used the below python code, it gave me the different strings such as r'43', r'37', etc. I also tried to use str(row[0]), but no luck. I know the issue came from '/' in some strings in the field. But I don't know how to get the original strings. Your clue is appreciated.

with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, ['CondSize']) as cursor:
    for row in cursor:
        print row[0] 

Thanks a lot

Eddy. H.

[VickyWang]

Try to replace your printing string to be formatted as a Unicode string :
print (u'{0}'.format(row[0]))

[SLH]

Hi, Vicky, thanks for the reply. I have tried it, but it is still same issue. 

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

Can you provide specifics on the field type.

Is definitely a string/text field or something else?

Are there missing values?

And regionalization/language settings?

Have you tried  the TableToExcel tool to examine the table in Excel?

[SLH]

Hi, Dan, 

I double checked the field and copied it as below. It is text. And also I tried to export it as txt file and excel file. It is same issue there:  it gave me the different strings such as r'43', r'37', etc

Thanks 

Eddy H.

[DanPatterson]

weird... or the field is weird.  Try adding a new text field to the table and do a simple field calculate, python parser  eg your new field would equal

!Condsize! 

if that doesn't work try a couple of other variants like

val = str(row[0]).replace("\\", "_")

print(val)

I just want to check to see if it can be converted to pure text and replacing the backslashes with underscores or not.

Best check is get on an ArcGIS Pro machine and try it with python 3.7.  python 2.7 is done as is the arcmap series (although it will remain on support for the foreseeable future.

It doesn't appear that the unicode or raw encoding worked for you (?!) but again, you are using python 2.7

[VickyWang]

feel wired about the field too. 

I used ArcMap 10.8.1 with Unicode string formation that works. try to replace the string as what @DanPatterson suggests. replace by two backslashes.

Create a new field and use field calculation to convert the existing field value to string in the new field. 

[DanPatterson]

his problem isn't backslashes, but foreslashes   '1/0',

which makes it more confusing, hence the suggestion of replacing with anything other than a slash

[VickyWang]

Thanks for the correction @DanPatterson. 

[DanPatterson]

@VickyWang , sorry for the confusion, I meant any "slash" since they have meaning in unicode (see "solidus" in unicode).  By replacing and \,/ with _ removes those from causing a misinterpretation of anything before or after it.

In any event ArcGIS Pro and python 3 would be a better test