Using custom Python to identify & pull data from one Attribute Field to populate another

[MatthewElbert1]

Hi all,

I am looking to use geoprocessing tools or python script in ArcPro to identify numeric data (year) within cells of one attribute table column, pull the year and then populate a corresponding attribute table cell with that data.  I've attached a screenshot example of the data for water pipe that I would look to use as a test.

I want to run the tool on a large number of records (over 12,000) have them identify and copy the four digit year from a project (district) description, then populate the 'year_inst' field with said number.  

Is this feasible? Or at least a version of it that I could then QC?  I would appreciate any and all feedback as I'm not looking forward to attempting to clean thousands upon thousands of attribute records.

Appreciate this community and any help offered.

Cheers,

-Matt

[AnthonyRyanEQL]

Matthew,

This is definitely feasible.

As you iterate over each record, you are extracting the last 4 characters from the 'DISTRICT' field and then updating the 'YR_INST' field with that data. You may need to typecast the year value to a number if the datatype of the 'YR_INST' field isn't a string.

Good luck

[BobBooth1 · Accepted solution]

You could do a Python expression in the Calculate Field tool.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/calculate-field.htm

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/calculate-field-examples.htm

To get the last 4 digits (the year) from the string, use string slicing.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7983820/get-the-last-4-characters-of-a-string

Set that equal to a variable, such as my_year, and then calculate the new field value as int(my_year) if the year field is int. If it's a date/time field you'll have to do a little more work, see the date time examples here.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/calculate-field-examples.htm