What's the best way to get the OBJECTID name?

Question

What's the best way to get the OBJECTID name of a feature class?

I know you can use "OID@" in a cursor to get the field, but can you get the name from that as well?

I'm writing a script, and need to take into account varying OBJECTID names, like OBJECTID_2, OBJECTID_12, FID, etc. that will be used in a query.

Is using Describe the only way to get the name?

For example:

oid_field = [field.name for field in arcpy.ListFields("FC") if field.type == "OID"]

I'm just wondering if there's another way.

Thanks.

radouxju · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-09 18:23:06Z

30

I would say that using describe is the best

oid_fieldname = arcpy.Describe(fc).OIDFieldName

is quite straightforward. Otherwise, you can directly filter when you use listFields, so you could try

oid_fieldname = arcpy.ListFields(fc,"","OID")[0].name

but this will return an error if there is no oidField (unlikely, but...)

answered Jul 9, 2014 at 17:59

radouxju

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I agree it is very straightforward. I've just noticed Describe can be a bit slow. Thanks.
– ianbroad
Jul 9, 2014 at 18:04
Is ListFields faster than Describe?
– Learner
Mar 3, 2020 at 7:12
From my experience, no, they are both relatively slow... I've tested on two different medium size) gdb and the results are ~6.4 for Describe and ~7.4 for ListFields (from scratch). If the fc is already in memory, the time is ~1.6 and 2.5, respectively.
– radouxju
Mar 3, 2020 at 9:13

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