Append Table to End of Table

[MitchHolley1]

Is there a geoprocessing tool that literally appends one table (or columns) to the end of another?  ESRI does something similar in their 'Symmetrical Difference' tool.  See below for an example. 

I know I could do this with a Python for loop and the 'Add Field' function, but that seems costly.  I was hoping there was a geoprocessing tool that could do it for me.  

Thanks for any help!

[DanPatterson_Retired]

arcpy.da.ExtendTable if you have numpy arrays... not a solution immediately probably, but keep it in mind

[TedKowal]

My 2 cents,

It sounds like you want to JOIN two tables.  But the Key ingredient to make this successful is to have a common key between both tables; then you can see both tables side by side with the rows lined up.  With out a common key, this is not doable under standard type practice without very creative logic.

[curtvprice]

One approach that would be pretty efficient would be use Create Table (using table 2 as a template) and run a Join Field of table 1 with table 2. This is still a bit slow (Join Field can be slow with many records) but would be less work on your part.

[RichardFairhurst]

What possible purpose is served by this type of join?  If there is no relationship between the two tables (since you never match any of the records of Table A to Table B for any reason), why do you need this output?  If it is a multi-field relationship I have a tool for dong that kind of match.  It would help a lot to understand why you want this type of output before suggesting the best approach for accomplishing it, especially if in the end there actually is a relationship between the two tables that you are failing to tell us about.

[MitchHolley1]

I've mentioned twice in this thread that I need a output table that is similar to the one created by the Symmetrical Difference tool. 

[JeffWard]

Here is what I would do -

• Join the two tables using a field of the same type - integer, text, float (it won't matter that none of the records join since your desired output is null field values for the right half of table A and null field values for the left half of table B) This step is so you have the fields from Table A tacked on to the right side of table B.
• Export the joined table to a new table. This step makes all of the fields permanent in a new table.
• Append Table B to the new table selecting "NO_TEST" in the Schema Type setting. Then map the fields to the corresponding fields in the new table. The Append tool is in Data Management - General toolbox.

This should get you what you are after if I understand your requirements correctly.

[TedKowal]

Would not a simple cut and paste in an excel file do the same with less steps.  Paste table a, Paste table b just to the right of table a 

[MeredithBliss]

I have run into this issue too. Rather than have to loop through and add 20-30 fields, I was hoping to copy a table, truncate the data, and then simply add the empty fields to the right of the data in existing feature class. From there I can use a dict join to move my data over. Data is too large for the join field tool to be efficient. The need is to simplify processing and scripting time.