Compact

Summary

Compacts a personal or file geodatabase. Compacting rearranges how the geodatabase is stored on disk, often reducing its size and improving performance.

Usage

• It is recommended to compact personal geodatabases when they become larger than 250 MB.

• If data entry, deletion, or general editing is frequently performed on a database, the database should be regularly compacted to ensure optimal performance.

• If a database is open in ArcMap for editing, it cannot be compacted. To compact the database, remove any layers with a source table or feature class in that database from the Contents window.

Dive-in:

Personal and file geodatabases are stored as binary files on a disk drive. As data is added, removed, or edited, these files become fragmented, decreasing overall database performance. The Compact tool is used to rearrange how the database is stored on disk by defragmenting these binary files, reducing the database's size on disk and improving database performance.

Syntax

Compact(in_workspace)

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_workspace	The personal or file geodatabase to be compacted.	Workspace

Derived Output

Name	Explanation	Data Type
out_workspace	The updated input workspace.	Workspace

Code sample

Compact example (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the Compact function in immediate mode.

import arcpy
arcpy.Compact_management("c:/landuse.gdb")

Compact example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following stand-alone script is a simple example of how to use the Compact function in a scripting environment.

# Name: Compact_Example.py
# Description: compact a file geodatabase

# Import the system modules
import arcpy

# Set local variables
gdbWorkspace = "C:/data/data.gdb"

arcpy.Compact_management(gdbWorkspace)

Environments

• Current Workspace
• Output CONFIG Keyword
• Scratch Workspace

Licensing information

• Basic: Yes
• Standard: Yes
• Advanced: Yes