Storing shapefiles in recently created folder using ArcPy?

Question

I'm trying to create a folder and export the following shape files to the new folder. I got it to create the folder but I can't seem to get the shapefiles to the new folder.

import arcpy
import datetime
from arcpy import env

env.workspace = "C:/UPDM.gdb"
out_folder_path = "C:/output"
nowstart = datetime.datetime.now()
YearMonthDay = nowstart.strftime("%Y_%m_%d")
out_name = "WebTMS_BU_" + YearMonthDay + ""

arcpy.CreateFolder_management(out_folder_path, out_name)

arcpy.FeatureClassToShapefile_conversion(["P_Leaks"],
                                         out_name)

Answer 1

You need to reference the full output folder path in your FeatureClassToShapefile_conversion call. Currently you are passing your out_name variable which only represents the string "WebTMS_BU_" + YearMonthDay + "". So make this change:

arcpy.FeatureClassToShapefile_conversion(["P_Leaks"],
                                         os.path.join(out_folder_path,out_name)

And you will need to add the os module:

import os

Answer 2

To add to the answer above, another way is to use Arcpy.getOutput method. In this way, you can set the output of the geoprocessing tool as a variable. For example:

result = arcpy.CreateFolder_management(out_folder_path, out_name)
new_folder = result.getOutput(0)

The variable "new_folder" can then be used going forward through your script when using ArcGIS geoprocessing.

arcpy.FeatureClassToShapefile_conversion(["P_Leaks"],
                                         new_folder)

However, this method wont work when using other python modules outside of Arc. The OS method mentioned above is a more full-proof python way of joining paths, but just wanted to mention the get.Output method which can be used to identify the outputs from most Arc geoprocessing functions.