RefreshCatalog (arcpy)

Summary

Forces a refresh of the Catalog window or Catalog tree.

Discussion

The Catalog window may not always display the latest state of all information. In these cases, it is useful to refresh your content. For instance, intermediate data created within a script tool, or using other python modules to create or move data will not be automatically shown in the Catalog window.

Syntax

RefreshCatalog (dataset)

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
dataset	Data element to be refreshed.	String

Code Sample

RefreshCatalog example

Forces a refresh after using shutil.copytree to copy a directory.

import shutil
import arcpy

input_folder = "c:/data/hydrology"
target_folder = "c:/test/hydro_backup"

# Copy a directory tree to a backup location
shutil.copytree(input_folder, target_folder)

# Refresh the Catalog window for the new directory
arcpy.RefreshCatalog(target_folder)