Table to Excel For loop keeps producing lock file in directory using ArcPy

Question

I have the following code that I developed to convert my .dbf zonal statistics outputs into .xls using arcpy. I am trying to run the loop using three files as a test; ppt_07223000_190001.dbf, ppt_07223000_190002.dbf and ppt_07223000_190001.dbf

import arcpy
import os
import glob
from arcpy.sa import *
from arcpy import env
import numpy as np

####################
# Set the workspace#
####################

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput=True
arcpy.env.workspace = r'D:\Prism\tdmean files\tdmean_Excel'

############################
### Search for dbf files ###
############################

dbf_filenames = sorted(glob.glob("*.dbf"))

# pieces = 10
# new_arrays = np.array_split(dbf_filenames, pieces)

for dbf in dbf_filenames:
    # print(dbf)
    basefilename = os.path.basename(dbf)
    # print(basefilename)
    CleanBaseStr = os.path.splitext(basefilename)[0]
    field_name = "Year_Month"
    field_type = "DOUBLE"

    # arcpy.management.DeleteField(dbf, field_name)
    arcpy.management.AddField(dbf, field_name, field_type, field_length = 6)

    field = ["Year_Month"]
    yearmonth = os.path.splitext(basefilename)[0][13:21]

    with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(dbf, field) as cursor:
            try:
                for row in cursor:

                    row[0] = yearmonth
                    cursor.updateRow(row)

                    ### Execute table to excel
                    out_xls = CleanBaseStr + ".xls"
                    print(f"{out_xls} : {row}")
                    arcpy.TableToExcel_conversion(dbf, out_xls)
            except:
                continue

Ideally the output should look something like this.

However, the issue arises in the directory. For some reason, the loop gets stuck after the first run and gets locked there.

# ppt_07223000_190001.xls : ['190001']

There is no error produced which makes it a bit more confusing.

However, when changing the arcpy.env.workspace to an external workspace, the script runs as shown by this print statement, but no excel output is produced.

# ppt_07223000_190001.xls : ['190001']
# ppt_07223000_190002.xls : ['190002']
# ppt_07223000_190003.xls : ['190003']

Answer 1

The update cursor will lock the dbf file as you are inside it. One option is to just keep track of what you want to save out as and then loop through it at the end. Something like this.

    out_files = []    
    for dbf in dbf_filenames:
        .....
        with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(dbf, field) as cursor:
                try:
                    for row in cursor:
    
                        row[0] = yearmonth
                        cursor.updateRow(row)
    
                        ### Execute table to excel
                        out_xls = CleanBaseStr + ".xls"
                        print(f"{out_xls} : {row}")
                        out_files.append([dbf, out_xls])
                except:
                    continue

    for dbf,out_xls in out_files:
        arcpy.TableToExcel_conversion(dbf, out_xls)