SelectLayerByAttribute_management - Correct syntax for expression

[KatrinaBennett]

I'm having some trouble running ArcGIS 10 Python scripting.

I am trying to select the attributes in my layer based on a number of expressions. I don't think I have the Syntax correct. Although, I've followed what is posted here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001700000071000000.

This is the portion of my code that is giving me the error.


sel_pts_lyr is a feature layer, and the join I used to generate the data fields was done using env.qualifiedFieldNames = False.

I am running this in gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  #Select Analysis
  print "Attempting Select"
  expression1 = ' \"ELEV\" <= \"Elev_metre \" + 100 AND \"ELEV\" >= \"Elev_metre\" - 100 '
  expression2 = ' \"SLP\" <= \"mean_slp\"+ \"sd_slp\" AND \"SLP\" >= \"mean_slp\" - \"sd_slp\" '
  expression3 = ' \"ASP\" <= \"mean_asp\" + \"sd_asp\" AND \"ASP\" >= \"mean_asp\" - \"sd_asp\" '

  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", expression1)
  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "SUBSET_SELECTION", expression2)
  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "SUBSET_SELECTION", expression3)


ERROR OUTPUT

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\data2\smart_clip2\model_clip.py", line 91, in <module>
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", expression1)
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\management.py", line 4259, in SelectLayerByAttribute
    raise e
ExecuteError: ERROR 000358: Invalid expression
Failed to execute (SelectLayerByAttribute).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Any assistance would be very appreciated!!


Thank you,

Katrina

[FabianBlau]

Hi!

Try it without escaping the double quotes:

expression1 = ' "ELEV" <= "Elev_metre " + 100 AND "ELEV" >= "Elev_metre" - 100 '

When mixing the different kinds of quote signs escaping should not be necessary.

[MikeWissner]

Hi all,

I'm also trying to run a SelectLayerByAttribute_management command and I keep getting an error.  My line of code is as simple as can be, I don't understand the problem.


arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("landuse", "NEW_SELECTION", " [LU_2008]= 'Cemetery' ")

Runtime error <class 'arcgisscripting.ExecuteError'>: ERROR 000358: Invalid expression Failed to execute (SelectLayerByAttribute).




Any help or suggestions are much appreciated,
mike

[MikeWissner]

Ok,

I figured out that for my code I don't need the brackets around the field name.

But now when I run the code, it says its completed successfully, but no selection is visible in my data frame.  Very frustrating.

[BruceNielsen]

The field name needs to be enclosed by double quotes:

arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("landuse", "NEW_SELECTION", "\"LU_2008\" = 'Cemetery' ")

[MikeWissner]

Thanks Bruce.

Problem solved, I wasn't escaping the double quotes around the field name.

good luck Katrina

[KatrinaBennett]

I tried what was suggested, to remove the backslashes. I am still getting the error:

#Select Analysis
  print "Attempting Select"
  expression1 = ' "ELEV" <= "Elev_metre" + 100 AND "ELEV" >= "Elev_metre" - 100 '
  expression2 = ' "SLP" <= "mean_slp"+ "sd_slp" AND "SLP" >= "mean_slp" - "sd_slp" '
  expression3 = ' "ASP" <= "mean_asp" + "sd_asp" AND "ASP" >= "mean_asp" - "sd_asp" '

  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", expression1)
  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "SUBSET_SELECTION", expression2)
  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "SUBSET_SELECTION", expression3)


Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\data2\smart_clip2\model_clip.py", line 91, in <module>
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", expression1)
  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\management.py", line 4259, in SelectLayerByAttribute
    raise e
ExecuteError: ERROR 000358: Invalid expression
Failed to execute (SelectLayerByAttribute).

[BruceNielsen]

I wonder if this might make a difference:

expression1 = 'ABS("ELEV" - "Elev_metre") <= 100 '
expression2 = 'ABS("SLP" - "mean_slp") <= "sd_slp" '
expression3 = 'ABS("ASP" - "mean_asp") <= "sd_asp" '

[KatrinaBennett]

Ok, it worked with some minor modification! In the end I had to make a new column for ELEV because the original column had different precision and scale, which apparently matters in the Python version of the Select Layer By Attribution, but not the Tool version.

Also, I combined these together using the ADD because the SUBSET_SELECTION did not appear to be working. I kept getting a zero selection in my shapefile, which was incorrect.

Thank you for you help!

Final code lines used are as follows:

  expression1 = 'ABS("Elev2" - "Elev_metre") <= 100 AND ABS("SLP" - "mean_slp") <= "sd_slp" AND ABS("ASP" - "mean_asp") <= "sd_asp" '
  #expression2 = 'ABS("SLP" - "mean_slp") <= 2*"sd_slp" '
  #expression3 = 'ABS("ASP" - "mean_asp") <= 2*"sd_asp" '

  arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(sel_pts_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", expression1)

Katrina

[TerrenceDolan]

Question regarding arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management:

I can not figure out the problem with the following syntax:

arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("Faults_2","NEW_SELECTION"," [names2]='Wabash Valley liquefaction features' ")

Result: Runtime error <class 'arcgisscripting.ExecuteError'>: ERROR 000358: Invalid expression Failed to execute (SelectLayerByAttribute).



The layer "Faults_2" is a geodatabase feature class. I have zero experience with Python, any help is much appreciated!

-Terry