3

I'm trying to get one column of text to move into another column that already has text. I DON'T want to replace it, I want the transferring text to be added to the already existing text in a shp file attribute table.

Example

permit   acct id
123      567
324      456

I want to take the "acct id" numbers and bring them into the permit column and have it look like this...

permit
123567
324456
2
  • Is this in ArcGIS 9.3 ?
    – djq
    Feb 7, 2011 at 23:56
  • yes it is in 9.3
    – Zoran
    Feb 8, 2011 at 6:02

1 Answer 1

10

You need to concatenate information from two fields using the & operator (see this link for all supported operators) . You can do this from ArcGIS's Field Calculator using [mycol1] =:

[mycol1] & [mycol2]

If you want a space in between the two values:

[mycol1] & " " & [mycol2]

This only works for text type destination fields. If you want something fancier, then you probably need to do some preprocessing in the "Advanced" mode.

4
  • I've tried that and I'm recieving the FC box saying "At least one value did not fit into the specificed text field and had to be truncated. truncated values are flagged with a trailing *
    – Zoran
    Feb 9, 2011 at 17:33
  • i clicked the column I wanted... FC ... then I clicked the "township" and the "section (column that I need the numbericals to be transferred)" [township] & [section] is what it looks like
    – Zoran
    Feb 9, 2011 at 17:35
  • Mike, ok..only in text... what can you do if it is Numerical?
    – Zoran
    Feb 14, 2011 at 13:23
  • You can only have numbers (no spaces or string characters) in numeric fields. The rule of thumb I've used is, unless you're going to perform math on the field's values, make it a text field. Note that if you want to convert from text to numeric or vice-versa, you can use VBA functions to do so (just like in Excel)
    – neuhausr
    Feb 14, 2011 at 15:00

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.