The Update fields tool updates a field name or field type.
Examples
The Update fields tool can be used in scenarios such as the following:
- A dataset has fields with uninformative names. Update the fields to make the field names more meaningful.
- A ZIP Code field was detected as type integer, but your workflow requires the ZIP Code values to be strings. Update the field type from integer to string.
- You have a string field representing geometries in a WKT format. Use Update fields to convert the string to a geometry.
Parameters
The following table outlines the parameters used in the Update fields tool:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
Input dataset | The dataset containing the fields that will be updated. |
Updates | One or more fields and the updates that will be made to each field. |
Decimal separator | Specify a decimal separator value if you are converting string values to a number and the string values do not use a period (.) as the decimal separator. This parameter is optional. |
Usage notes
Use the Input dataset parameter to identify the dataset containing the fields that will be updated.
Click the Configure updates button to launch the Update fields modal where you can specify the field updates.
The Update fields modal offers the following capabilities:
- You can update the field name, type, or a combination of the two. At least one update is required for each field. The options are as follows:
- Field to update—Specifies the field that will be updated.
- New field name—Updates the name of the specified field.
- New field type—Updates the type of the specified field.
- The Add field button can be used to add individual fields to update. To add all fields at once, use the Add all fields button.
- The Add suggested fields fields button can be used to automatically configure updates that are recommended by Data Pipelines. When this button is clicked, Data Pipelines samples the data and may suggest updates. For example, if you have a string field with values such as "12/23/2025", Data Pipelines may suggest a new field type of date only with a date format of MM/dd/yyyy.
Suggestions are made based on a sample of the data. If a field has many null or empty values, suggestions may not be returned for the field.
The following are the field type options:
- String—Outputs a string type field. String fields support strings of characters (text).
- Float—Outputs a float type field. Float fields support fractional numbers between approximately -3.4E38 and 3.4E38.
- Double—Outputs a double type field. Double fields support fractional numbers between approximately -2.2E308 and 1.8E308.
- Small integer—Outputs a small integer type field. Small integer fields support whole numbers between -32768 and 32767.
- Integer—Outputs an integer type field. Integer fields support whole numbers between -2147483648 and 2147483647.
- Big integer—Outputs a big integer type field. Big integer fields support whole numbers between -9223372036854776000 and 9223372036854776000.
- Date—Outputs a date type field. Date fields contain both date and time values, such as 12/23/2025 12:30:30 PM, for example.
- Date only—Outputs a date only type field. Date only fields contain a date value, such as 12/23/2025, for example.
- Point—Outputs a point geometry field.
- Polyline—Outputs a polyline geometry field.
- Polygon—Outputs a polygon geometry field.
- Multipoint—Outputs a multipoint geometry field.
- Boolean—Outputs a Boolean type field. Boolean fields support values of true and false.
If values cannot be converted to the new type, the result will be null and will appear empty in the output.
Use the Decimal separator parameter to convert string fields to a double if the strings use decimal separators that are not periods (.). This parameter is optional. The following are examples of how to use the decimal separator parameter:
- A string field contains double values that use a comma as the decimal separator such as "3,55". To convert this field to a double, specify a new field type of double and use a comma (,) as the decimal separator. The result will be a double field with values such as 3.55.
- A string field contains integer values with extra zero padding such as "5,0000". To convert this field to an integer, specify a new field type of integer and use a comma (,) as the decimal separator. The result will be an integer field with values such as 5.
For all numeric fields, the preview will format the number according to the locale set in your user settings.
Type conversion behavior
The Update fields tool handles field conversions differently depending on the input type and target type. Supported conversions will either succeed or return a null value if the original value cannot be converted to the target type. If the conversion is not supported, the data pipeline will fail with an error. The following table details whether the conversion is supported and what the converted value's format is if applicable:
| String | Small integer | Integer | Big integer | Float | Double | Date only | Date | Boolean | Point | Multipoint | Polyline | Polygon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
String | Yes | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 |
Small integer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Integer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes3 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Big integer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes3 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Float | Yes | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes3 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Double | Yes | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes (Round) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes3 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Date only | Yes (ISO 8601) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes1 | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Date | Yes (ISO 8601) | No | Yes (Seconds) | No | No | Yes (Seconds) | Yes2 | Yes1 | No | No | No | No | No |
Boolean | Yes ("true", "false") | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Blob | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 |
Array | Yes (JSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Map | Yes (JSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Struct | Yes (JSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 | Yes5 |
Point | Yes (EsriJSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes4 | No | No | No |
Multipoint | Yes (EsriJSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes4 | No | No |
Polyline | Yes (EsriJSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes4 | No |
Polygon | Yes (EsriJSON) | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes4 |
1 Date format and Time zone parameters are ignored.
2 Date format is ignored. Time zone is required. The date will be truncated to a date only based on the specified time zone.
3 Date format must be seconds or milliseconds from epoch. Time zone is ignored. Dates stored in milliseconds or seconds are always represented as the UTC time zone.
4 Geometry format and Spatial reference are ignored. To change the spatial reference of a geometry field, use the Project geometry tool instead.
5 Geometry format must be compatible with the input field type. String input fields must use a format of WKT, GeoJSON, or EsriJSON. Struct input fields must use a format of GeoJSON or EsriJSON. Binary fields must use a format of WKB.
Outputs
The tool output contains the input dataset with the newly updated fields. If field values cannot be converted to the new type, the resulting value will be null and will appear empty in the output.
Licensing requirements
The following licensing and configurations are required:
- Creator or Professional user type
- Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role, or an equivalent custom role
To learn more about Data Pipelines requirements, see Requirements.