Using Intersect with arcpy.GetParameterAsText() and ArcMap

Question

I'm trying to use the intersect tool, with one of my inputs being from a get parameter as text. As I don't have an advanced licence I have to iterate through the list to run the intersect on each item in the list.

However, there is something about the input into the intersect analysis it doesnt like. I get the error message:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "\DRBS-NAS01\ueec\GIS100円 MT testing\BufferTest\Scripts\Intersection batch.py", line 37, in arcpy.Intersect_analysis(Des4, DirectAndIndirect + "\test2", "ALL") File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.7\arcpy\arcpy\analysis.py", line 334, in Intersect raise e ExecuteError: Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid. ERROR 000732: Input Features: Dataset SOBLayer #;'\DRBS-NAS01\ueec\GIS100円 MT testing\BufferTest\Data\Designations\Ancient_Woodland_England.shp' # does not exist or is not supported Failed to execute (Intersect).

 import arcpy
 import os
 
 ## Working folders
 WorkingDir = os.getcwd() ## To go up more directories: os.getcwd() 
 os.path.dirname(os.getcwd()); os.chdir(os.path.dirname(os.getcwd()))
 DesDir = WorkingDir + "\\Data\\Designations"
 OutputDir = WorkingDir + "\\Data\\Outputs"
 Interim = OutputDir + "\\Interim"
 DirectAndIndirect = OutputDir + "\\DirectAndIndirect"
 
 if not os.path.exists(DirectAndIndirect):
 os.makedirs(DirectAndIndirect)
 
 SiteOptions = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
 SiteOptionsBuffers = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
 
 DesList1 = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(2)
 DesList2 = DesList1.split(';')
 
 DesBufferList = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(3)
 
 arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(SiteOptionsBuffers, "SOBLayer")
 
 query = '"IndImpBuff" = {}'.format(DesBufferList)
 arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("SOBLayer","NEW_SELECTION", query)
 
 Des4 = ["SOBLayer"]
 for Des1 in DesList2:
 Des2 = os.path.basename(Des1)
 Des4.append(Des1)
 arcpy.Intersect_analysis(Des4, DirectAndIndirect + "\\test2", "ALL")

Could someone suggest what the problem with the Intersect input is please?

• Ebingsya: Try creating variables for the inputs of the intersect and use print statements to see if they're what you expect. Or, since this is being run as a script tool, use AddMessage.
• Ahmad Raji: You can use arcpy.Exists to check if the datasets exist.

Answer 1

Thanks for the comments. It's led me to a solution. The AddMessage was showing that in the DesList2 it was listing the dataset as:

u"'\DRBS-NAS01\ueec\GIS100円 MT testing\BufferTest\Data\Designations\Ancient_Woodland_England.shp'"

A bit of digging, and for reasons I dont understand, changing my loop as follows got it working:

for Des1 in DesList2:
 Des2 = os.path.basename(Des1)
 Des6 = Des1[1:-1].encode()
 Des4.append(Des6)
 arcpy.Intersect_analysis(Des4, DirectAndIndirect + "\\test2", "ALL")