Merge 30000 polygon shapefiiles in a logical manner in ArcGIS model Builder

Question

I have 30000 shapefiles (a1.shp to a30000.shp). They are all polygons. Each polygons has one and only one polygon feature in it. I need to Merge the polygons into 1000 shapefiles. My output would be 1000 polygons (each with 30 sequential polygons in it)

So output b1.shp = Merged polygons a1.shp to a30.shp

So output b2.shp = Merged polygons a31.shp to a60.shp

So output b3.shp = Merged polygons a61.shp to a90.shp

and so on up to...

b1000.shp = Merged polygons a29970.shp to a30000.shp

Looking for an ArcGIS model builder or GDAL solution.

Answer 1

It would be easier with arcpy.

for i in range(10000):
    pol_list = []
    for j in range(30):
        pol_list.append("a" + str(i*30 + j + 1) + ".shp")
    arcpy.Merge_management(pol_list, "b" + str(i+1) + ".shp")

EDIT:

for a feature class inside a geodatabase, you don't need the + ".shp" anymore, and you can define the workspace using :

arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data/geodatabase.gdb"

or you can concatenate the full paths

outgdb = "C:/data/outgeodatabase.gdb/"
 ...
     arcpy.Merge_management(pol_list,outgdb + "b" + str(i+1))

Answer 2

In ModelBuilder, you use Iterate Feature Classes to loop through the shapefiles, then use Collect Values to send the iterator values to Merge.

It will look like this:

Answer 3

Modelbuilder!

Add iterator: FOR Set it to start at 10, iterate from 0-350 or so, in iterations of 30. Output of iterator will include Value variable.

Select by attribute, as so: FID = %Value%+1 or FID = %Value%+2 or FID = %Value%+3 or etc.

For the FIDS: First iteration: 0+1, 0+2, 0+3 Second iteration: 30+1, 30+2, 30+3 Third interation: 90+1, 90+2, 90+3

After the select features, merge them.