BUG-000153589 for ArcGIS Pro

Bug ID Number	BUG-000153589
Submitted	November 9, 2022
Last Modified	October 7, 2024
Applies to	ArcGIS Pro
Version found	3.0.2
Operating System	Windows OS
Operating System Version	10.0 64 Bit
Status	As Designed

Additional Information

Using the dataset instead of a layer as an input to the SelectBy tools is for convenience reasons. But it incurs some performance problems, as captured and explained in this issue. If performance is a concern, see the workaround. When a dataset is passed as an input to the SelectBy tools, the first step is to generate a unique layer name. The heuristic is to create a layer based on the input name and if the layer exists, add an incrementing numeric value. So if the input dataset is 'city.shp', the tool generates 'cityLayer' in the first loop. The second loop also generates 'cityLayer' but as this returns 'True' to the existence check, the name of the layer is renamed to 'cityLayer1'. The third loop hits two name collisions before settling on 'cityLayer2', and so on. By the 100th iteration, we have 99 existence checks returning 'True', allowing to settle on 'cityLayer99'. The slowdown in the later parts of the iteration is due to this.

Workaround

Use arcpy.management.MakeFeatureLayer to create a feature layer to be used as an input for arcpy.management.SelectLayerByAttribute. Refer to the following ArcMap documentation for more information: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/tools/data-management-toolbox/select-layer-by-attribute.htm