Updating field in feature class using ArcPy cursor?

Question

I want to update a field in my feature class. I tried to use a da.SearchCursor (code below) but was quickly reminded that tuples are immutable... I ran the code but it failed with a TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment.

How do I most efficiently retrieve all rows from a feature class and update a field of each row and save it back to the feature class?

with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, fldNames) as sc:
 for thing in sc:
 tmp = 0
 #
 # do stuff here
 #
 thing[idxField] = tmp

Answer 1

You want to use an Update Cursor, not a Search Cursor. It allows the same retrieve rows and loop through process, but also enables updating fields.

with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(fc, fldNames) as uc:
 for thing in uc:
 # assign the data to the various fields
 thing[0] = tmp0
 thing[1] = tmp1
 # trigger an update (save) for that row
 uc.updateRow(thing)

• mr.adam: you'll need uc.updateRow(thing) instead of cursor
• Erica: Ha, yes. I'm so used to my own syntax ;)