Changing order of fields on CSV export using ArcPy with ArcGIS Pro

Question

I'm exporting a feature class as a CSV through Python with ArcGIS Pro. I've listed out all the fields I need to keep on export.

Is it possible to use this as a list for ordering my headers in the CSV?

There's a csv.DictWriter but I can't figure out where/how to combine it. I thought listing it out preserves the order in export but it does not.

fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc3)
fieldsToKeep =['REPORTER','RECOWNER','SCINAME','COMNAME','RECBASIS','GlobalID','OCCSTATUS','MANAGESTAT',
               'POPSTAT','OBSDATE','COUNTRY','STATE','COUNTY','COMMENTS']

field_names = [field.aliasName for field in fields if field.name in fieldsToKeep]

with open(outputCSV,'w', newline='') as f:
    w = csv.writer(f)
    #w = csv.DictWriter(f, field_names)
    w.writerow(field_names)
    for row in arcpy.SearchCursor(fc3):
        field_vals = [row.getValue(field.name) for field in fields if field.name in fieldsToKeep]
        w.writerow(field_vals)
        del row 

Answer 1

You just need to make sure to read the values from each row in the desired order. Try this:

fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc3)
aliases = {field.name: field.aliasName for field in fields}

fieldsToKeep =['REPORTER','RECOWNER','SCINAME','COMNAME','RECBASIS','GlobalID','OCCSTATUS','MANAGESTAT',
               'POPSTAT','OBSDATE','COUNTRY','STATE','COUNTY','COMMENTS']

aliasesToKeep = [aliases[name] for name in fieldsToKeep]

with open(outputCSV,'w', newline='') as f:
    w = csv.writer(f)
    w.writerow(aliasesToKeep)
    with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fieldsToKeep) as cursor:
      for row in cursor:
          w.writerow(row)

Notes:

• Always use the arcpy.da / "data access" cursors. The old-style ones are deprecated
• Using with to create a context for the cursor removes the need to del anything
• The cursor will now return a tuple of values for each row, in the same order as the fields we've requested