ArcGIS Functions

There are a huge number of funcions available to Python scripts in ArcGIS. You'll probably never need most of them and there are many that effectively do the same thing. So, like the toolbox, one of the greatest challenges is just to find the function that does what you want.

Functions are organized in somewhat the same way as the toolbox with another set of functions specifically for scripting. Below is a list of the libraries you'll probably use:

• arcpy - main Arc Python package
• arcpy.env - used to set environmental variables that are used throughout ArcGIS
• arcpy.sa (Spatial analysis tools) - includes most of the raster processing functions
• arcpy.anaylsis (Analysis tools) - contains most of the vector data processing functions
• arcpy.mapping - used to access "mxd" documents and the layers they contain (not the spatial data referenced by an mxd)
• acrpy.management (Data management tools) - tools for coordinate systems (CRS), table management, etc.)

Most of the other toolboxes are represented as well and you can browse them by typing "arcpy." in Wingware or the in the Python window in ArcGIS