Change numeric field values into negative

Question

I would like to change one field values into negative (i.e. original column, row 1 = 5, new column row 1 = -5 in a feature class list.

I got until the addfield and calculate field functions, but it is not clear how to do the negative transformation.

ARCGIS help page has some instructions about negative expressions

-x, negative expression of x, x = 5 --> -x, -5

How to use it with arcpy is not very clear. It seems that an expression should be added either at the '!original_value!' or as a code block after the expression type (python 9.3).

for fc in arcpy.ListFeatureClasses():  
    #output = path.join(outWS, fc)
    #"GEODESIC" calculates distances in meters!
    #arcpy.analysis.Near(fc, idFeat, "", "NO_LOCATION", "NO_ANGLE","GEODESIC") 
    arcpy.AddField_management(fc, 'location_value', "FLOAT")
    arcpy.CalculateField_management(fc, 'location_value', '!original_value!', "PYTHON_9.3", "")

Answer 1

A very simple technique to make numbers negative is to multiply them by -1.

In an ArcGIS environment using the CalculateField tool the syntax would be:

arcpy.CalculateField_management(fc, 'location_value', "!original_value! * -1", "PYTHON_9.3", "")