SearchCursor method
Release 9.3 Last modified January 19, 2010	Print all topics in : "Properties and Methods"

Note: This topic was updated for 9.3.1.

Establishes a cursor for searching through field rows. A search cursor can be used to retrieve rows. This method returns an enumeration object that will, in turn, hand out row objects.

Syntax

object.SearchCursor(InputValue As String, {WhereClause} As String, {SpatialReference} As Object, {FieldList} As String, {SortFields} As String) As Object

{} = optional

Part	Description
object	The instantiated geoprocessor object.
InputValue	The table, feature class, or shapefile containing rows to be searched.
WhereClause	Optional. An expression that limits the number of rows to be searched. For further information on WHERE clauses and Structured Query Language (SQL) statements, see About building an SQL statement.
SpatialReference	Optional. The spatial reference of the input table, feature class, or shapefile.
FieldList	Optional. Fields to be included in the cursor. By default, all fields are used.
SortFields	Optional. Fields used to sort the rows. Ascending and descending order for each field is denoted by A and D.

Examples

Find the county with the largest population for each state in the United States.

import arcgisscripting
gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)

# Open a searchcursor
#   Input: c:/us/counties.shp
#   FieldList:  NAME; STATE_NAME; POP2000
#   SortFields: STATE_NAME A; POP2000 D
#
rows = gp.searchcursor("c:/us/counties.shp","","","NAME; STATE_NAME; POP2000",            "STATE_NAME A; POP2000 D")

# Get the first feature in the searchcursor
#
row = rows.next()
currentstate = ""

# Iterate through the rows in the cursor
#
while row:
    if currentstate != row.STATE_NAME:
        currentstate = row.STATE_NAME

        # Print out the state name, county, and population
        #
        print "State: %s, County: %s, population: %i" %                 (row.STATE_NAME, row.NAME, row.POP2000)
    row = rows.next()

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