Writing to a text file from arcpy.ListFields()

Question

I'm trying to replicate output to a text file from an attribute table using the write() method to transfer the values to the .txt file. The program writes the values but groups each row of values into braces [] and returns a u"value" format for each value. Additionally blanks are represented by the "None". Finally, the order of the field values are wrong even though I tried to build an order using a criteria list to refine the arcpy.ListFields()

This is the output I'm now getting:

[100.0, u'', 304604, 1298977.349872, 295805.476068, u'113984001', u'113984001', None, None, 4, u'D472B444-7F3C-40E9-85B1-A6A700EBFBEE', u'', 2030, u'BT-501'][100.0, u'', 32204, 1343091.764101, 194014.427182, u'134531001', u'134531001', None, None, 4, u'D18279D5-34D7-46A7-9342-A6AB00A55F48', u'', 3660, u'IS-501']

I would like to get this:

D472B444-7F3C-40E9-85B1-A6A700EBFBEE,113984001,113984001,1298977.349872,295805.476068,304604,,100,BT-501,2030,4,,, D18279D5-34D7-46A7-9342-A6AB00A55F48,134531001,134531001,1343091.764101,194014.427182,32204,,100,IS-501,3660,4,,, 1ACC967C-241F-4C07-BB7A-A6AC00B632E3,9666001,9666001,1275486.924555,280097.24814,259088,,100,SH-501B,,2,,,A

Here's my code:

inFields = ["UniqueID","Address_ID","Account_ID","X","Y","Ref_ID","Side","Score","Route","Sequence","Service_Day","Demand_2","Demand_3","Week"]

    outputWS = r"C:\RS_Data\Workspace\BATCH_CO_161_imports\gisdb\layers.gdb"

        finalFC = os.path.basename(layer)
        print finalFC
        day = time.strftime("%m%d%Y")
        arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(layer, outputWS, finalFC)
        outPath = 'S:\\Shared\\RouteSmart\\CO_161_Cleanscapes\\To_Tower'
        name = os.path.basename(finalFC)
        dataFields = arcpy.ListFields(finalFC)
        file = os.path.join(outPath, ("{0}{1}{2}".format(day,name,".txt")))
        print file
        f = open(file, "w")
        writeFields = []
        for field in dataFields:
            if field.name in inFields:
                writeFields.append(field)
        for row in arcpy.SearchCursor(finalFC):
            fieldVals = [row.getValue(field.name) for field in writeFields]
            f.writelines(str(fieldVals))
        del row
        f.close()

Is there a way I can specify the order in which the values are written, remove the u"value" formatting as well as the []'s around each row, replace "None" with "" and have it write each row as a new line in the text file?

After taking a mix tips from the answers I've gotten it close. The None's are still there but that's the only thing left to resolve. Here's the modified code:

        arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(layer, outputWS, finalFC)[0]
        outPath = 'S:\\Shared\\RouteSmart\\CO_161_Cleanscapes\\To_Tower'
        name = os.path.basename(finalFC)

        dataFields = [i.name for i in arcpy.ListFields(finalFC)]

        file = os.path.join(outPath, ("{0}{1}{2}".format(day,name,".txt")))
        print file
        f = open(file, "w")

        writeFields = []

        for field in inFields:
            if field in dataFields:
                writeFields.append(field)

        for row in arcpy.SearchCursor(finalFC):
            # No longer need to reference name property (field.name)
            fieldVals = [row.getValue(field) for field in writeFields]
            # Replace nulls with empty strings
            fieldsVals = ['' if i is None else i for i in fieldVals]
            # Create a comma-separated string of values
            fieldVals = [str(field) for field in fieldVals]
            out_string = ','.join(fieldVals)
            # Write the string--not the list--to the table
            f.writelines(out_string)
        del row
        f.close()

    arcpy.Delete_management(layer)
    arcpy.Delete_management("OldSeq")

Answer 1

Though there are easier ways to achieve your goal, here's a minimal-modification fix for your script. See the included comments:

inFields = ["UniqueID","Address_ID","Account_ID","X","Y","Ref_ID","Side","Score","Route","Sequence","Service_Day","Demand_2","Demand_3","Week"]

outputWS = r"C:\RS_Data\Workspace\BATCH_CO_161_imports\gisdb\layers.gdb"

finalFC = os.path.basename(layer)
print finalFC
day = time.strftime("%m%d%Y")

arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(layer, outputWS, finalFC)
outPath = 'S:\\Shared\\RouteSmart\\CO_161_Cleanscapes\\To_Tower'
name = os.path.basename(finalFC)

# Changed to a list comprehension to grab the field names directly
dataFields = [i.name for i in arcpy.ListFields(finalFC)]

file = os.path.join(outPath, ("{0}{1}{2}".format(day,name,".txt")))
print file
f = open(file, "w")

writeFields = []

for field in inFields:
    if field in dataFields:
        writeFields.append(field)

for row in arcpy.SearchCursor(finalFC):
    # No longer need to reference name property (field.name)
    fieldVals = [row.getValue(field) for field in writeFields]
    # Replace nulls with empty strings
    fieldVals = ['' if i is None else i for i in fieldVals]
    # Create a comma-separated string of values
    out_string = ','.join(fieldVals)
    # Write the string--not the list--to the table
    f.writelines(out_string)
del row
f.close()

More info on:

The join method on strings

List comprehensions

Answer 2

Your are supply str() a list which python will optimistically convert to a string. That is really intended for you as a programmer to undertand what the string contains.

Instead you need to convert the list to a string yourself and add a delimiter explicitly:

f.writelines(   ",".join(fieldvals) )

Join will expect fieldvals to only consist of strings, so you need to convert each field individualy first:

fieldvals = [str(field) for field in fieldvals]

You can reorder the fields by defining writeFields explicitly:

writeFields = ['first Field', 'second Field']