Introduction

ArcGIS Desktop contains over 800 geoprocessing tools, which can be used in your Python scripts. In this chapter, you will learn to use these tools in your scripts. Each tool has unique characteristics. The syntax for executing each will differ depending upon the type of input required to successfully execute the tool. We'll examine how you can determine the input parameters for any tool using the ArcGIS Desktop help system. The execution of a tool results in the creation of one or more output datasets along with a set of messages that are generated while the tool is running. We'll examine how you can use these messages. Finally, we'll look at how you can get and set environment variables for your script.