IndexError when adding multiple fields to shapefile

Question

As part of a larger project i'm looking to add multiple fields to a shapefile using an index. This is the snippet in question:

listFields = [['ITEM', 'TEXT'], ['SYSTEM', 'TEXT'], ['WATERCOURCE_BANK', 'TEXT'], ['AIMS_REF', 'TEXT'],
 ['CHAINAGE', 'TEXT'], ['GRID_REF', 'TEXT'], ['CUT', 'TEXT'], ['LENGTH_KM', 'TEXT'], ['COMMENTS', 'TEXT']]
print("Adding fields")
for addField in listFields:
print(" ...{}".format(addField[0]))
arcpy.AddField_management('table_stamp', addField[0], addField[1], addField[2], addField[3], addField[4],
 addField[5], addField[6], addField[7], addField[8])

I'm getting the following error, pointing at the line of code above:

IndexError: list index out of range

As far as I can tell I have got my Indexing right. Nine fields to add so the indexes should be 0 to 8.

Anybody have any idea what the issue might be?

• Bjorn: Each iteration of addField only has 2 elements. The references to addfield[2] and above are what are causing the IndexError.

Answer 1

Add field only adds one field at a time. You will need to add an AddField for each field. Something like...

arcpy.AddField_management('table_stamp', addField[0][0], addField[0][1])
arcpy.AddField_management('table_stamp', addField[1][0], addField[1][1])

or

for item in listffields:
 arcpy.AddField_management('table_stamp', item[0], item[1])

• Matt Houston: I went for the second option and that seemed to do it, thank you.