raster created by arcpy.sa.FocalStatistics cannot be deleted

[PKennedy]

I've successfully created a raster using FocalStatisitics:

  smoothed = arcpy.sa.FocalStatistics('input', neighborhood, "MEAN","NODATA")   smoothed.save('output.tif')

Problem:
The problem is that when I try to delete the 'output.tif' file within Python, I get the following error:

WindowsError: [Error 32] The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process: 'E:/output.tif'

The problem also occurs in an interactive Python session - the file cannot be deleted by Windows Explorer until the PythonWin is closed.  I assume the problem is that FocalStatistics did not close the file it created.

How can I delete 'output.tif' within Python?  I am new to arcpy so I may be missing something obvious.

[MathewCoyle · Accepted solution]

Have you tried deleting your smoothed variable?

[JamesCrandall]

I've successfully created a raster using FocalStatisitics:

  smoothed = arcpy.sa.FocalStatistics('input', neighborhood, "MEAN","NODATA")
  smoothed.save('output.tif')

Problem:
The problem is that when I try to delete the 'output.tif' file within Python, I get the following error:



The problem also occurs in an interactive Python session - the file cannot be deleted by Windows Explorer until the PythonWin is closed.  I assume the problem is that FocalStatistics did not close the file it created.

How can I delete 'output.tif' within Python?  I am new to arcpy so I may be missing something obvious.

Or I wonder if a with statement would be appropriate?  (not sure if this would work, it is NOT tested), but it should handle the termination for you (from what I've read anyway):

  with arcpy.sa.FocalStatistics('input', neighborhood, "MEAN","NODATA") as smoothed:
      smoothed.save('output.tif')

(someone please correct this if it is wrong.  Sorry OP for not testing this, just a quick thought that might work as expected).

[PKennedy]

Have you tried deleting your smoothed variable?

Thanks! Delete_management is the answer.

What works is the following code:

arcpy.Delete_management('output.tif')

My mistake was that I tried deleting smoothed using Delete_management (but obviously that didn't work).

Thanks again.