Copy Features (Data Management)
Summary
Copies features from the input feature class or layer to a new feature class. If the input is a layer which has a selection, only the selected features will be copied. If the input is a geodatabase feature class or shapefile, all features will be copied.
Usage
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Both the geometry and attributes of the Input Features will be copied to the output feature class.
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This tool can be used for data conversion as it can read many feature formats (any you can add to ArcMap) and write these to shapefile or geodatabase (File, Personal, or ArcSDE).
Syntax
| Parameter | Explanation | Data Type |
in_features |
The features to be copied. | Feature Layer;Raster Catalog Layer |
out_feature_class |
The feature class which will be created and to which the features will be copied. If the output feature class already exists and the overwrite option is set to true, the output will be deleted first. If the output feature class already exists and the overwrite option is set to false, the operation will fail. | Feature Class |
config_keyword (Optional) |
Geodatabase configuration keyword to be applied if the output is an ArcSDE geodatabase or file geodatabase. | String |
spatial_grid_1 (Optional) |
The Spatial Grid 1, 2, and 3 parameters apply only to file geodatabases and certain ArcSDE geodatabase feature classes. If you are unfamiliar with setting grid sizes, leave these options as 0,0,0 and ArcGIS will compute optimal sizes for you. For more information about this parameter, refer to the Add Spatial Index tool documentation. | Double |
spatial_grid_2 (Optional) |
Cell size of the second spatial grid. Leave the size at 0 if you only want one grid. Otherwise, set the size to at least three times larger than Spatial Grid 1. | Double |
spatial_grid_3 (Optional) |
Cell size of the third spatial grid. Leave the size at 0 if you only want two grids. Otherwise, set the size to at least three times larger than Spatial Grid 2. | Double |
Code Sample
The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the CopyFeatures tool in immediate mode.
import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data"
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management("climate.shp", "C:/output/output.gdb/climate")
The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to use CopyFeatures to copy the shapefiles in a folder to a file geodatabase.
# Name: CopyFeatures_Example2.py
# Description: Convert all shapefiles in a folder to geodatabase feature classes
# Import system modules
import arcpy
import os
# Set environment settings
arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data"
# Set local variables
outWorkspace = "c:/output/output.gdb"
# Use ListFeatureClasses to generate a list of shapefiles in the
# workspace shown above.
fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
# Execute CopyFeatures for each input shapefile
for shapefile in fcList:
# Determine the new output feature class path and name
outFeatureClass = os.path.join(outWorkspace, shapefile.strip(".shp"))
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(shapefile, outFeatureClass)