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String formatting ? for definition query

Question asked by recurvata on Apr 10, 2012
Latest reply on Apr 10, 2012 by recurvata

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I'm trying to set up a definition query for a layer, but can't get the formatting correct. I've tried several variations of the code below w/o success, such as writing the query out in triple double quotes (which for some reason required an extra double quote) . Appreciate any help. This kind of thing was easier in the old days of VB & VBA.
Code:

    case_number = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)     fld = "Case_"                                                            # tried substituting this for "Case_" in the line below, for example.     query = '"%s"' + " = " + "'%s'" % ("Case_", case_number)  #1st %s is single, double, double single quotes; 2nd is double single single double      # query should look like "Case_" = 'A-BC-12-34' where case_number = A-BC-12-34,

Error:

<type 'exceptions.TypeError'>: not all arguments converted during string formatting

bruce.nielsen Apr 10, 2012 10:00 AM

Correct Answer

I think it should look something like this:

query = "\"Case_\" = '%s'" % case_number -or- query = "\"%s\" = '%s'" % (fld, case_number)

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bruce.nielsen Apr 10, 2012 10:00 AM

I think it should look something like this:

query = "\"Case_\" = '%s'" % case_number -or- query = "\"%s\" = '%s'" % (fld, case_number)

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recurvata Apr 10, 2012 10:09 AM

Thanks Bruce, that works great. I thought I had tried the escape \, but guess not correctly. How would this work for a variable, fld in the code snippet? Even though I don't expect the field name to change, I don't like using hard coded values if I can avoid it.

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bruce.nielsen Apr 10, 2012 10:12 AM

I edited my previous post to show both methods. The way you were doing it originally should have looked like:

query = '"%s"' % fld + " = " + "'%s'" % case_number

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recurvata Apr 10, 2012 12:31 PM

Thanks, appreciate it.

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bruce.nielsen Apr 10, 2012 10:00 AM
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Correct Answer
I think it should look something like this:
```
query = "\"Case_\" = '%s'" % case_number -or- query = "\"%s\" = '%s'" % (fld, case_number)
```
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recurvata Apr 10, 2012 10:09 AM
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Thanks Bruce, that works great. I thought I had tried the escape \, but guess not correctly. How would this work for a variable, fld in the code snippet? Even though I don't expect the field name to change, I don't like using hard coded values if I can avoid it.
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bruce.nielsen Apr 10, 2012 10:12 AM
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I edited my previous post to show both methods. The way you were doing it originally should have looked like:
```
query = '"%s"' % fld + " = " + "'%s'" % case_number
```
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recurvata Apr 10, 2012 12:31 PM
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Thanks, appreciate it.
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String formatting ? for definition query

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