InsertCursor

Summary

InsertCursor establishes a write cursor on a feature class or table. InsertCursor can be used to add new rows.

Discussion

When using InsertCursor on a point feature class, creating a PointGeometry and setting it to the SHAPE@ token is a comparatively expensive operation. Instead, define the point feature using tokens such as SHAPE@XY, SHAPE@Z, and SHAPE@M for faster, more efficient access.

Opening simultaneous insert or update operations on the same workspace using different cursors requires the start of an edit session.

The following includes some dataset types that can only be edited within an edit session:

• Feature classes participating in a topology
• Feature classes participating in a geometric network
• Feature classes participating in a network dataset
• Versioned datasets in enterprise geodatabases
• Some object and feature classes with class extensions

Note:

Using an InsertCursor on a layer with a joined table is not supported.

Syntax

InsertCursor (in_table, field_names, datum_transformation)

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_table	The feature class, layer, table, or table view.	String
field_names [field_names,...]	A list (or tuple) of field names. For a single field, you can use a string instead of a list of strings. Use an asterisk (*) instead of a list of fields to access all fields from the input table (raster and BLOB fields are excluded). However, for faster performance and reliable field order, it is recommended that the list of fields be narrowed to only those that are actually needed. Raster fields are not supported. Additional information can be accessed using tokens (such as OID@) in place of field names: SHAPE@XY —A tuple of the feature's centroid x,y coordinates. SHAPE@XYZ —A tuple of the feature's centroid x,y,z coordinates. SHAPE@TRUECENTROID —A tuple of the feature's centroid x,y coordinates. This returns the same value as SHAPE@XY. SHAPE@X —A double of the feature's x-coordinate. SHAPE@Y —A double of the feature's y-coordinate. SHAPE@Z —A double of the feature's z-coordinate. SHAPE@M —A double of the feature's m-value. SHAPE@JSON — The Esri JSON string representing the geometry. SHAPE@WKB —The well-known binary (WKB) representation for OGC geometry. It provides a portable representation of a geometry value as a contiguous stream of bytes. SHAPE@WKT —The well-known text (WKT) representation for OGC geometry. It provides a portable representation of a geometry value as a text string. SHAPE@ —A geometry object for the feature. Polygon, polyline, or multipoint features can only be created using the SHAPE@ token.	String
datum_transformation	When features to be inserted have a different spatial reference than the target feature class, a projection will be performed automatically. If the two spatial references have a different datum, an appropriate transformation should be specified. The ListTransformations function can be used to provide a list of valid datum transformations between two spatial references. Learn more about datum transformations	String

Properties

Property	Explanation	Data Type
fields (Read Only)	A tuple of field names used by the cursor. The tuple will include all fields (and tokens) specified by the field_names argument. If the field_names argument is set to *, the fields property will include all fields used by the cursor. When using *, geometry values will be returned in a tuple of the x,y-coordinates (equivalent to the SHAPE@XY token). The order of the field names on the fields property will be the same as passed in with the field_names argument.	tuple

Method Overview

Method	Explanation
insertRow (row)	Inserts a row into a table.

Methods

insertRow (row)

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
row [row,...]	A list or tuple of values. The order of values must be in the same order as specified when creating the cursor. When updating fields, if the incoming values match the type of field, the values will be cast as necessary. For example, a value of 1.0 to a string field will be added as "1.0", and a value of "25" added to a float field will be added as 25.0.	tuple

Return Value

Data Type	Explanation
Integer	insertRow returns the objectid of the new row.

Code sample

InsertCursor example 1

Use InsertCursor to insert new rows into a table.

import arcpy
import datetime

# Create an insert cursor for a table specifying the fields that will
# have values provided
fields = ['rowid', 'distance', 'CFCC', 'DateInsp']
cursor = arcpy.da.InsertCursor('D:/data/base.gdb/roads_maint', fields)

# Create 25 new rows. Set default values on distance and CFCC code
for x in range(0, 25):
    cursor.insertRow((x, 100, 'A10', datetime.datetime.now()))

# Delete cursor object
del cursor

InsertCursor example 2

Use InsertCursor with the SHAPE@XY token to add point features to a point feature class.

import arcpy

# A list of values that will be used to construct new rows
row_values = [('Anderson', (1409934.4442000017, 1076766.8192000017)),
              ('Andrews', (752000.2489000037, 1128929.8114))]

# Open an InsertCursor
cursor = arcpy.da.InsertCursor('C:/data/texas.gdb/counties',
                               ['NAME', 'SHAPE@XY'])

# Insert new rows that include the county name and a x,y coordinate
#  pair that represents the county center
for row in row_values:
    cursor.insertRow(row)

# Delete cursor object
del cursor

InsertCursor example 3

Use InsertCursor with the SHAPE@ token to add a new feature using a geometry object.

import arcpy

# Create a polyline geometry
array = arcpy.Array([arcpy.Point(459111.6681, 5010433.1285),
                     arcpy.Point(472516.3818, 5001431.0808),
                     arcpy.Point(477710.8185, 4986587.1063)])
polyline = arcpy.Polyline(array)

# Open an InsertCursor and insert the new geometry
cursor = arcpy.da.InsertCursor('C:/data/texas.gdb/counties', ['SHAPE@'])
cursor.insertRow([polyline])

# Delete cursor object
del cursor