[GIS] RuntimeError: A column was specified that does not exist

arcpycursorruntimeerror

I have a script which reads a geodatabase table and calculate two fields based on existing fields.
This is my code:

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

#overwrite output
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

#Linear reference
def locateFeatures(fc,rts,tbl):
    arcpy.LocateFeaturesAlongRoutes_lr(fc, rts, 'RID', '0.1 Meters', tbl, 
    'RID LINE FMEASN TMEASN')

#add field Diff MEAS
def addFieldDif(tbl):
    arcpy.AddField_management(tbl,'DifFMEAS', 'DOUBLE')
    arcpy.AddField_management(tbl,'DifTMEAS', 'DOUBLE')

#calculate Diff MEAS
def calFieldDifMeas(fc):
    fdList = ['FMEASN','TMEASN','FMEAS','TMEAS','DifFMEAS','DifTMEAS']
    with arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(fc,fdList) as cursor:
        for row in cursor:
            row[4] = abs(row[0] - row[2])
            row[5] = abs(row[1] - row[3])
            cursor.UpdateRow(row)

fc = r'C:\Users\Gary\Documents\ArcGIS\Default.gdb\PplProt'
rts = r'C:\Users\Gary\Documents\ArcGIS\Default.gdb\PplRoute'
tbl = r'C:\Users\Gary\Documents\ArcGIS\Default.gdb\Locate_MEAS'
locateFeatures(fc,rts,tbl)
addFieldDif(tbl)
calFieldDifMeas(fc)
print'done!!'

When I run the script I get the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File ", line 31, in
File "", line 21, in calFieldDifMeas
RuntimeError: A column was specified that does not exist.

Maybe this is a very silly error but I've started learning Python recently and I cannot find a fix anywhere. Can anybody give me a hint of what might be causing the error?

Best Answer

The error RuntimeError: A column was specified that does not exist. usually comes from the cursor when you supply in the list of input fields a field that does not exist.

There are some things you can do for troubleshooting:

  • Try printing all the fields in the feature class before using da.UpdateCursor using arcpy.ListFields():

Code:

for f in fdList: 
  print f, f in [field.name for field in arcpy.ListFields(fc)]

This should be done before creating a cursor. You should get True for all fields.

  • Make sure you are using the correct feature class - check what feature class the variable fc refers to.
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