Remove spaces from values of a string field in an attribute table in ArcGIS Pro

Summary

In ArcGIS Pro, it is sometimes necessary to remove extra spaces from the values of a string field in an attribute table. This can be achieved using the strip() Python function, which removes any characters, including spaces. This article describes the workflow to remove spaces using the strip() Python function in the Calculate Field tool.

In this example, the extra spaces from the values of the COUNTY field are removed to uniformize the format.

Note:
• The strip() function removes all leading and trailing characters mentioned in the argument. If no argument is presented, only spaces are removed.
• To remove either leading or trailing spaces, use the lstrip() or rstrip() functions respectively.
• This function only works on string and text fields, not integer fields.

Procedure

1. Open the ArcGIS Pro project.
2. In the Contents pane, right-click the layer and click Attribute Table to open the layer's attribute table.

3. In the attribute table, right-click the field name containing the values with spaces to be removed, and click Calculate Field. The COUNTY field is used in this example.

4. Configure the parameters in the Calculate Field window.

1. For Input Table, ensure the layer selected in Step 2 is prefilled. In this example, the input table is Petroleum_Well.
2. For Field Name, ensure the field selected in Step 3 is prefilled. Otherwise, select the field from the drop-down menu. In this example, the field name is COUNTY.
3. For Expression Type, select Python 3.
4. For Expression, in the expression box, type the code provided below. Replace 'Field Name' with the name of the field selected in Step 3.

!Field Name!.strip()

Note:
The Calculate Field tool changes the input data permanently. To enable undo, toggle the Enable Undo option on in the Calculate Field window before running the tool. Or, create a new field and configure the field.

5. Click OK.

The spaces are removed from the values in the COUNTY field.