Python: If Then with Left Equivalent

[MichaelWalden]

Trying to calculate using Python in 10.3 the "Region" field with text based on the first two characters in a string field called "API_10".  Basically, if the left two characters in "API_10" equal "33", then populate "Region" with "North".

[JoshuaBixby · Accepted solution]

API_10[0:2] or API_10[:2]

[JoshuaBixby]

Also, just pass the whole column to your function since the function does slicing and checking:  Region = TextValue(!API_10!)

[MichaelWalden]

Thanks Joshua!

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Joshua is correct... python slicing is 0 based and exclusive of the slice number, hence

whatever[:2] or whatever[0:2] will return 0 and 1.  The slice is [start:stop:step]

whatever = 'abcdefg'

whatever[0:6:2]
'ace'

whatever[:6:2]
'ace'‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

or skipping the start and stop

whatever[:6]
'abcdef'‍‍

[TedKowal]

When you do a slice or substring in Python and  it starts with "0" then the second number is always the length.  This confused me for a while ..... https://www.dotnetperls.com/substring-python 

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Or the most succinct descriptor... the python docs