What are Valid feature class and table names in ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

What are the rules for naming valid feature classes and tables in ArcGIS Desktop, and is there any supporting document which can explain all the dataset naming limitations?

something poorly documented: don't use a number for the first character of a dataset. — Kirk Kuykendall, Mar 02 '11 at 15:38
This is exactly my problem, i am trying to use number for the first character of dataset, no problem in shape file but file geodatabase is giving me error — iRfAn, Mar 02 '11 at 15:43
Sorry, but trying to solve a similar problem: while importing in gdb, how do I add date before the name? ex: name.shp -> 120706_name feature class — Luca Moiana, Jul 06 '12 at 07:58

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 30 '18 at 08:33

20

It's in the documentation: Defining feature class properties

Specifically:

Names must begin with a letter, not a number or special character such as an asterisk (*) or percent sign (%). Names can't have any characters other than alphanumeric characters and underscores.

edited Oct 30 '18 at 08:33

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answered Mar 02 '11 at 17:29

Derek Swingley

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score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 02 '11 at 18:51

7

This question has been answered by Swingley above... But, in terms of automating this procedure, you could write a script that implements the IFieldChecker.ValidateTableName method. If i remember correctly it returns a corrected name with invalid characters replaced with underscores.

answered Mar 02 '11 at 18:51

Jakub Sisak GeoGraphics

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I am aware of validateTableName but here is my situation, i have shape files "1-Digit postcode.shp, 2-digit postcode.shp" and when i use validateTableName on these two shape file i will get result for both "_Digit_postcode.shp". I think i need to write my own function for this table name validation. – iRfAn Mar 03 '11 at 08:18
it's been a whole so correct me if i am wrong but if you use the workspace parameter, you should in fact get "_Digit_postcode.shp" and "_Digit_postcode_1.shp" – Jakub Sisak GeoGraphics Mar 04 '11 at 13:04

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '17 at 07:06

Since ArcGIS 10.3, there is an arcpy function ValidateTableName:

Takes a table name and a workspace path and returns a valid table name for the workspace. An underscore "_" will replace any invalid character found in the table name and will honor the name restrictions for the workspace. The table name restrictions depend on the specific RDBMS used.

What are Valid feature class and table names in ArcGIS Desktop?

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