Export Feature Attribute To ASCII (Spatial Statistics)

Summary

Exports feature class coordinates and attribute values to a space-, comma-, tab-, or semicolon-delimited ASCII text file.

Illustration

Export Feature Attribute To ASCII tool illustration
Coordinates (X and Y) and user-specified feature attributes are written to an ASCII text file.

Usage

  • This tool can be used to export data for analysis with external software packages.

  • The X and Y coordinate values are written to the text file with eight significant digits of precision. Floating-point attribute values are written to the text file with six significant digits.

  • When null values are encountered for a field value, they will be written to the output text file as NULL.

  • Caution:

    When using shapefiles, keep in mind that they cannot store null values. Tools or other procedures that create shapefiles from nonshapefile inputs may store or interpret null values as zero. In some cases, nulls are stored as very large negative values in shapefiles. This can lead to unexpected results. See Geoprocessing considerations for shapefile output for more information.

Parameters

LabelExplanationData Type
Input Feature Class

The feature class from which the feature coordinates and attribute values will be exported.

Feature Layer
Value Field

The field or fields in the input feature class containing the values to export to an ASCII text file.

Field
Delimiter

Specifies how feature coordinates and attribute values will be separated in the output ASCII file.

  • SpaceFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a space in the output. This is the default.
  • CommaFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a comma in the output.
  • SemicolonFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a semicolon in the output.
  • TabFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a tab in the output.
String
Output ASCII File

The ASCII text file that will contain the feature coordinates and attribute values.

File
Add Field Names to Output

Specifies whether field names will be included as the first line in the output text file.

  • Checked—Field names will be written to the output text file.
  • Unchecked—Field names will not be written to the output text file. This is the default.
Boolean

arcpy.stats.ExportXYv(Input_Feature_Class, Value_Field, Delimiter, Output_ASCII_File, Add_Field_Names_to_Output)
NameExplanationData Type
Input_Feature_Class

The feature class from which the feature coordinates and attribute values will be exported.

Feature Layer
Value_Field
[Value_Field,...]

The field or fields in the input feature class containing the values to export to an ASCII text file.

Field
Delimiter

Specifies how feature coordinates and attribute values will be separated in the output ASCII file.

  • SPACEFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a space in the output. This is the default.
  • COMMAFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a comma in the output.
  • SEMI-COLONFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a semicolon in the output.
  • TABFeature coordinates and attribute values will be separated by a tab in the output.
String
Output_ASCII_File

The ASCII text file that will contain the feature coordinates and attribute values.

File
Add_Field_Names_to_Output

Specifies whether field names will be included as the first line in the output text file.

  • ADD_FIELD_NAMESField names will be written to the output text file.
  • NO_FIELD_NAMESField names will not be written to the output text file. This is the default.
Boolean

Code sample

ExportFeatureAttributeToASCII example 1 (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the ExportFeatureAttributeToASCII tool:

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = r"c:\data"
arcpy.ExportXYv_stats("AidsByCaCnty.shp", "HEPRATE", "SPACE", "aidsbycacnty.txt", 
                      "ADD_FIELD_NAMES")
ExportFeatureAttributeToASCII example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following stand-alone Python script demonstrates how to use the ExportFeatureAttributeToASCII tool:

# Export feature locations and attributes to an ASCII text file
 
# Import system modules
import arcpy
 
# Local variables...
workspace = "c:/data"
input_features = "AidsByCaCnty.shp"
export_ASCII = "aidsbycacnty.txt"

# Set the current workspace (to avoid having to specify the full path to the 
# feature classes each time)
arcpy.env.workspace = workspace

# Process: Export Feature Attribute to ASCII...
arcpy.ExportXYv_stats(input_features, "HEPRATE", "SPACE", export_ASCII, 
                      "NO_FIELD_NAMES")

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