Executing buffer analysis in ArcPy with for loop?

Question

I'm attempting to run the Buffer Analysis tool with a distance of 3 km over multiple shapefiles at the same time. I was given a folder with different types of files and ran a for loop to create a new list with just the files ending with ".shp" that I have below.

import os
import arcpy
from arcpy import env 
env.workspace = "file_path"
env.overwriteOutput = True
items = os.listdir("file_path")
 newlist = []
for names in items:
 if names.endswith(".shp"):
 newlist.append(final)
print newlist

Thus, this creates my list with just the shapefiles. However, this is where I struggle. I'm not sure how to run the buffer analysis tool over this new list that I've created.

• PolyGeo: Try reviewing Q&As here tagged arcpy for-loop or research for loops at Stack Overflow.
• Benjamin: I've found the information at this site pretty useful for figuring out batch processing in ArcPy. Might be worth taking a look at.

Answer 1

Arcpy has a special method called ListFeatureClasses that will list all the feature classes in the workspace. If the workspace is a folder, then it is likely the feature classes will be shapefiles. You can use the list in a loop. Then apply the buffer analysis. The trick will be getting the outname.

import arcpy
from arcpy import env 
env.workspace = "file_path"
env.overwriteOutput = True
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses():
for fc in fcs:
 arcpy.Buffer_analysis(fc, OutputName, "100 Feet", "FULL", "ROUND", "LIST", "Distance")

Here is the documentation on buffers: http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/tools/analysis-toolbox/buffer.htm