How to add “0” to multiple parts of text value in Field Calculator with Python

Question

I have values in a text column that are as follows:

000_100

100_200

...

1000_1100

1100_1200

I want it to read:

0000_0100

0100_0200

...

1000_1100

1100_1200

I want all values to have the same number of characters, for example 9. The numbers in the hundreds separated by the "_" need a "0" infront for this to be accomplished. I saw that I can use zfill to add a "0" to the beginning, but is there a way to specify where to put a second "0"?

Answer 1

The zfill string method, along with some basic string splitting/joining, will let you do this very slickly:

def update_text(old_text):
    new_text_parts = [num.zfill(4) for num in old_text.split('_')]
    new_text = '_'.join(new_text_parts)
    return new_text

If you would prefer not to bother with a function in the Field Calculator code block, you can simplify this (as Mike T commented) to a single expression:

'_'.join(num.zfill(4) for num in !field!.split('_'))

Answer 2

If you are using Field Calculator, you can create a new field of text type and calculate the field to be:

def updateValue(textField):
  newval = textField.split('_')
  if len(newval[0]) == 3:
    newval[0] = '0' + newval[0]
  if len(newval[1]) == 3:
    newval[1] = '0' + newval[1]
  total_val = newval[0] + '_' + newval[1]
  return total_val

Remember to use the Advanced block as outlined in the Calculate Field examples (look at the Using code blocks section).

updateValue(!your_text_field!)