Opening/loading layer file in ArcPy?

Question

I ran a script for location allocation on ArcPy, which worked.

After running it, I used the Save to Layer File to save the result.

Now that I have the result saved (and can even open on ArcMap), I want to reload that file into a Python script to do some work on it.

How do I load/read/open the layer file into Python again? Basically the reverse process of Save to Layer File, where you input a file path and it outputs a object that is the results layer.

Answer 1

In ArcGIS Desktop 10.x you use arcpy.mapping.Layer

lyr = arcpy.mapping.Layer(r"path\to\file.lyr")
print lyr.name

In ArcGIS Pro you use arcpy.mp.LayerFile:

lyrFile = arcpy.mp.LayerFile(r"path\to\file.lyrx")
for lyr in lyrFile.listLayers():
    print(lyr.name)