ArcPy Delete Function not working inside for loop?

Question

I'm creating a table and then trying to delete that table inside the same for loop as follows:

for fc in fcList:
 arcpy.GenerateNearTable_analysis(inFile, fc, out_table)
 arcpy.JoinField_management(inFile, "Obj_ID", out_table, "In_FID", ["NEAR_DIST"])
 arcpy.Delete_management(out_table)

But for some reason the delete statement isn't working. The table still exists after the script completes 'successfully'. When I just run the delete statement alone afterwards (means outside the for loop), then the table is deleted. But I need to delete it inside the for loop so that I can loop further. I have to put some more statements within the for loop later and the table needs to be deleted first for the upcoming statements to work.

Does the Delete_management statement not work within a for loop for any reason?

• umbe1987: How did you define out_table?
• umbe1987: Can you also please describe the "upcoming statements" you need to execute after the table is deleted?
• Salman: out_table is just a simple table that Generate Near Table tool creates. Please see my comment below for the upcoming statements.

Answer 1

I suspect some sort of file lock is occurring. An alternative approach you could try is to set overwrite to True before the loop

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

This means your out_table is constantly overwritten and then you use the Delete outside the loop as you have.

Answer 2

As discussed in this accepted answer:

I think this is an issue with ArcGIS having open file handles on the files in your temp folder (out_table).

The accepted solution suggested to wrap all the process you need to do in a function, call that and, as the function is returned (finish its execution), all variables within its scope is cleared.

Only then you can call the Delete_management function.

Try something like this and see if it works:

def your_func_name(fc):
 arcpy.GenerateNearTable_analysis(inFile, fc, out_table)
 arcpy.JoinField_management(inFile, "Obj_ID", out_table, "In_FID", ["NEAR_DIST"])
for fc in fcList:
 your_func_name(fc)
 arcpy.Delete_management(out_table)

• Salman: This is useful but as I said I need to add some more tools in that function which would create the same out_table again. So those tools wont work if the table already exists. That is why I wanted to delete that table each time after Generate Near Table tool ran, within the function.