Copying selected (targeted) features to new shapefile using ArcPy with ArcMap

Question

I am trying to copy specific attribute table rows from one shapefile to a new shapefile that will contain only the specified rows in its attribute table, that is, if a field GDP_TOP10 = 1.

I am using this at the moment:

#Grab rows using Search Cursor with WHERE clause
rows = arcpy.SearchCursor("C:/CGDP.shp", "GDP_TOP10 = 1")
for row in rows:
    arcpy.CopyFeatures_management("CGDP.shp", "New.shp")
del row
del rows

However, this just copies the entire shapefile, not the rows I want to select with the cursor. If I execute a print statement under my for loop instead, it works and prints only the relevant fields, but the copy to new shapefile command does not seem to copy specifically.

Is there a different ArcPy command to only copy rows that match a query?

Answer 1

I recommend using the Select_analysis tool which will accept a where clause.

arcpy.Select_analysis("C:/CGDP.shp", "C:/New.shp", ' "GDP_TOP10" = 1 ')

Answer 2

Create a feature layer with a selection, then use CopyFeatures:

arcpy.management.MakeFeatureLayer("C:/CGDP.shp", "new_layer", ' "GDP_TOP10" = 1 ')
arcpy.management.CopyFeatures("new_layer", "c:/new.shp")
arcpy.management.Delete("new_layer")