where clause

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10-21-2019 01:32 PM
GailMorrison
New Contributor II

How do I pass a text value from a GetParameterAsText into a where clause:

Example:

Within a geodatabase feature class ( FC ) is an attribute = Title

Title has several rows that have "Seal" within the title such as "Harbor Seals within Cook Inlet", "Seal Population near Point Lay", etc.

I want to create a Python Tools where the user can input a word search from the Title attribute = Seals 

input = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)  # input = "Seal"

cursor = arcpy.SearchCursor(fc, "Title LIKE input")  # obviously this line of code does not work

I need to include a "where clause" that include the "input" = seals

Thx.

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3 Replies
by Anonymous User
Not applicable

I haven't tested the code but just looking at it, I assume the expression in the following format would work. Can you try the below expression? 

input = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)  # input = "Seal"
expression = "TITLE LIKE '" + input + "%'"
cursor = arcpy.SearchCursor(fc, expression)‍‍‍‍‍‍

Also refer the following links for more examples on using the where clause

SearchCursor—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

Problems using the where clause with searchcursor method  

cursor - Not Able to Pass Where Clause in SearchCursor in ArcPy - Geographic Information Systems Sta...  

Cheers,

Ravi

JoshuaBixby
MVP Esteemed Contributor

As written, the expression will only find rows that start with "Seal."  The following expression will capture seal anywhere and regardless of case:

input = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)  # input = "Seal"
expression = "LOWER(TITLE) LIKE '%" + input.lower() + "%'"
cursor = arcpy.SearchCursor(fc, expression)
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MicahBabinski
Occasional Contributor III

Ravi's answer should work for you. If you want an exact match for your input parameter you could use:

input = arcpy.GetMarameterAsText(0)
# python 2 str.format() function inserts the string variable into your expression with out needing to concatenate strings
expression = "TITLE = '{}'".format(input) 
cursor = arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, expression)‍‍‍‍

Tip: you may wish to use the data access module search cursor (as I've demonstrated above) if you are using a recent release of ArcGIS. It works the same but faster!

SearchCursor—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

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