Double Iterator Name in ArcGIS

Question

I have a created a simple model in ArcGIS ModelBuilder. It works fine, however, I have problems saving the resulting files with appropriate names.

I iterate over 150 feature classes and sent them into another model that clips them with 20 buffers. Thus, the desired result would be to have 150*20 = 3000 features with unique names.

My problem: I was not able to figure out how to bring in both iterators when it comes to saving the files. In the second model (that returns the final, clipped features and saves them), I added %name% to the filename, which works well and iterates over the 20 buffers. Unfortunately, this happens for all 150 input feature classes.

Thus, I'm left with 20 files that keep getting overwritten instead of 1500 files with proper naming.

Long story short: Is there a way to add the iterator from the first model to the resulting file name?

Answer 1

This can be easily done by renaming the iterator value output as highlighted in red below (simply right click and rename). These need to be different in each model. As these are global within the executing model they pass down into your sub-model. The output FeatureClass then becomes the concatenation of these in-line variable. In this example it is %NameFC%_%Value%.

IMPORTANT: Make sure your values that you are iterating over are valid for the output featureclass name. In a geodatabase you cannot start with a number or have spaces.