Checking intersection of two shapefiles using ArcPy

Question

I am new to Python programming.
How do I check the intersection of two shapefiles using ArcPy?
If the shapefiles intersect, it should return True else False.
Below is the code that I have written :
import arcpy

arcpy.env.workspace = "D:/Qasim/mn_corcoran"

arcpy.Intersect_analysis(r'D:/Qasim/mn_hopkins/abc.shp #;D:/Qasim/mn_corcoran/xyz.shp #', r'D:/Qasim/mn_hopkins/asd.shp', 'ALL', '#', 'INPUT')

if arcpy.Intersect_analysis == True:
  
 print("True")

else: arcpy.Intersect_analysis == False

print("False")

BERA · Accepted Answer

You can "catch" the result object returned by Intersect.
For example:
import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = r'C:shapefile_folder'
result = arcpy.Intersect_analysis(["ak_riks.shp","ak_riks_Dissolve.shp"],r'in_memoryintersection')

And then use getMessages():
result.getMessages()
u'Executing: Intersect "ak_riks #;ak_riks_Dissolve #" in_memoryintersection ALL # INPUTnStart Time: Mon Aug 31 12:32:47 2020nReading Features...nCracking Features...nAssembling Features...nWARNING 000117: Warning empty output generated.nSucceeded at Mon Aug 31 12:32:47 2020 (Elapsed Time: 0,14 seconds)'

'empty output' not in result.getMessages()
False

david_p · Answer

You can do it by counting intersect features. If intersect returns some features, then result is True, else False. The code can be:
import arcpy

arcpy.env.workspace = "D:/Qasim/mn_corcoran"

intersect_layer = arcpy.Intersect_analysis(r'D:/Qasim/mn_hopkins/abc.shp #;D:/Qasim/mn_corcoran/xyz.shp #',
                         r'D:/Qasim/mn_hopkins/asd.shp', 'ALL', '#', 'INPUT')

if int(arcpy.GetCount_management(intersect_layer)[0]) > 0:
    print("True")
else:
    print("False")

Checking intersection of two shapefiles using ArcPy

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