Exporting shapefiles from large shapefile by field name?

Question

I have a table with thousands of polyline segments. The lines in this file are named, and there are about 100 unique line names in total.

I want to create a separate shapefile for all of the segments belonging to each of the 100 unique lines.

I know I can select by attributes and export each one individually, but is there a way to automate this process?

I will be doing this many more times in the coming months and would like a better process. I am familiar with ModelBuilder but not with Python.

Answer 1

Starting in ArcGIS 10.4 there is a Tool that performs this task. Please look in Analysis Toolbox, Split By Attributes. If your ArcGIS version is prior to 10.4, the USGS offers a similiar tool, SplitbyAttribute