Copy Rows (Data Management)

Summary

Writes the rows from an input table, table view, feature class, or feature layer to a new table. If a selection is defined on a feature class or feature layer in ArcMap, only the selected rows are copied out.

Usage

• All rows are copied, if the input is a feature class or table. If the input rows are from a layer or table view which has a selection, only the selected features or rows are used.

• If the input rows are a feature class, then only the attributes, and not the geometry, are copied to the output table.

• This tool supports the following table formats as input:

  • dBASE (.dbf)
  • Comma Separate Value (.csv)
  • tab delimited text (.txt)
  • Microsoft Excel worksheets (.xls or .xlsx)
  • INFO
  • VPF
  • OLE database
  • personal, file, or SDE geodatabase
  • in-memory table views

  For file input (.csv or .txt), the first row of the input file is used as the field names on the output table. Field names cannot contain spaces or special characters (such as $ or *), and you will receive an error if the first row of the input file contains spaces or special characters.

  Learn more about table formats supported in ArcGIS

• To add or append the copied rows to an existing table, use the Append tool.

• The output table can be saved in a dBASE, ArcSDE geodatabase, file geodatabase, or personal geodatabase, or as an INFO table.

• If the output is an INFO table, neither the output path nor the table name can have spaces.

Syntax

CopyRows_management (in_rows, out_table, {config_keyword})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_rows	The rows from a feature class, layer, table, or table view to be copied.	Table View ; Raster Layer
out_table	The table to which the rows will be written. The output table can be saved in a dBASE, ArcSDE geodatabase, file geodatabase, or personal geodatabase, or as an INFO table. The table to which the rows will be written. The output table can be saved in a dBASE, ArcSDE geodatabase, file geodatabase, or personal geodatabase, or as an INFO table.	Table
config_keyword (Optional)	The config keyword specifies the default storage parameters for an ArcSDE geodatabase.	String

Code Sample

CopyRows example 1 (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the CopyRows function in immediate mode.

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

env.workspace = "C:/data"
arcpy.CopyRows_management("vegtable.dbf", "C:/output/output.gdb/vegtable")

CopyRows example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to use CopyRows to copy the tables in a folder to a file geodatabase.

# Name: CopyRows_Example2.py
# Description: Convert all dBASE tables in a folder to geodatabase tables
# Requirement: os module

 
# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy import env
import os
 
# Set environment settings
env.workspace = "C:/data"
 
# Set local variables
outWorkspace = "c:/output/output.gdb"
 
# Use ListTables to generate a list of dBASE tables in the
#  workspace shown above.
tableList = arcpy.ListTables()
 
# Execute CopyRows for each input table
for dbaseTable in tableList:
    # Determine the new output feature class path and name
    outTable = os.path.join(outWorkspace, dbaseTable.strip(".dbf"))
    arcpy.CopyRows_management(dbaseTable, outTable)

Environments

Current Workspace, Output CONFIG Keyword, Scratch Workspace

Licensing Information

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Yes

ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Yes

ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Yes