Inserting new field with first three characters from the shapefile name using ArcPy?

Question

Is there any Python script which will add a field to shapefile which will be corresponding to first three characters from the shapefile name?

Answer 1

This code should do the trick. New field should be titled "New"

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = r"c:\Temp"
shapename = "newshape.shp"
newfield = shapename[0:3]
arcpy.AddField_management(shapename,newfield,"TEXT","","","20")

Answer 2

you can do this with Add Field (Data Management).

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

env.workspace = "C:/test.gdb"

inFeat = "cityoflondon.shp"
fieldLength = 10

#it will return "cit" from inFeat
fieldName = str(inFeat[:3])

arcpy.AddField_management(inFeat, fieldName, "TEXT", "", "", fieldLength)