Merge Branch (ModelBuilder)

License Level:BasicStandardAdvanced

Summary

The Merge Branch tool merges two or more logical branches into a single output.

Branching in a model is accomplished by creating a script tool that implements the necessary if-then-else logic. It is often the case when branching that you need to merge two branches into a single process. What this means is that if you test an input against a condition (examples: whether the data exists on the disk, whether the cell size is greater than 30 meters, whether the field value is 1), it will create two outputs: True, if the condition is true, and False, if the condition is false. If the condition is True, you want to run some processes and if the condition is False, you want different processes to run, as illustrated below. At any point, only one of the branches will run depending on the condition and the input. The Merge Branch tool is used in such cases where it is not possible to say which branch will run and produce results. The output of both branches becomes the input for the Merge Branch tool. The tool looks at the inputs and passes the last output of a branch that has-been-run to the next tool. The Merge Branch tool allows any number of inputs and uses the multivalue parameter control.

Illustration

How Merge Branch tool works

Usage

Syntax

MergeBranch_mb ({in_values})
ParameterExplanationData Type
in_values
[in_value,...]
(Optional)

List of values from different branches. The first ready-to-run state value in the list will be the output of the tool.

Multiple Value

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments

Related Topics

Licensing Information

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Yes
ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Yes
ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Yes
6/18/2012