v.category(1)

NAME
v.category - Attaches, deletes or reports vector categories to/from/of map geometry.

KEYWORDS
vector, category, layer

SYNOPSIS
v.category
v.category --help
v.category [-gt] input=name [layer=string[,string,...]] [type=string[,string,...]] [ids=range] [output=name] option=string [cat=integer] [step=integer] format=name [separator=character] [--overwrite] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

  Flags:

-g
    CSV style output, currently only for report [deprecated]
    Format: layer type count min max. This flag is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use format=csv instead.

-t
    Do not copy attribute table(s)

--overwrite
    Allow output files to overwrite existing files

--help
    Print usage summary

--verbose
    Verbose module output

--quiet
    Quiet module output

--ui
    Force launching GUI dialog

  Parameters:

input=name [required]
    Name of input vector map
    Or data source for direct OGR access

layer=string[,string,...]
    Layer number or name
    Vector features can have category values in different layers. This number determines which layer to use. When used with direct OGR access this is the layer name.
    Default: 1

type=string[,string,...]
    Input feature type
    Options: point, line, boundary, centroid, area, face, kernel
    Default: point,line,centroid,face

ids=range
    Feature ids (by default all features are processed)
    Example: 1,3,7-9,13

output=name
    Name for output vector map

option=string [required]
    Action to be done
    Options: add, del, chlayer, sum, report, print, layers, transfer
    add: add a category to features without category in the given layer
    del: delete category (cat=-1 to delete all categories of given layer)
    chlayer: change layer number (e.g. layer=3,1 changes layer 3 to layer 1)
    sum: add the value specified by cat option to the current category value
    report: print report (statistics), in CSV style: layer type count min max
    print: print category values, layers are separated by ’|’, more cats in the same layer are separated by ’/’
    layers: print only layer numbers
    transfer: copy values from one layer to another (e.g. layer=1,2,3 copies values from layer 1 to layer 2 and 3)

cat=integer
    Category value
    Default: 1

step=integer
    Category increment
    Default: 1

format=name [required]
    Output format
    Options: plain, csv, json
    Default: plain
    plain: Human readable text output
    csv: CSV (Comma Separated Values)
    json: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

separator=character
    Field separator
    Special characters: pipe, comma, space, tab, newline

DESCRIPTION
v.category attaches, copies, deletes or reports categories to/from/of vector geometry objects. Further on, v.category adds a number given by the cat option to categories of the selected layer. These categories (IDs) are used to assign IDs or to group geometry objects into categories (several different geometry objects share the same category). These categories are also used to link geometry object(s) to attribute records (from an attribute table linked to vector map).

NOTES
Use v.to.db to upload related categories to a linked attribute table.

The type parameter specifies the type of geometry objects to which the category is added; it is similar to an input filter - only the geometry specified in ’type’ is processed.

If the type parameter is set to centroid and the option parameter set to add, new categories will be added to existing centroids. Note however, that new centroids cannot be created this way. To do so, they must be added manually using wxGUI vector digitizer or by running v.category with the type parameter set to area.

If categories are copied with option=transfer, a warning is issued if categories already exit in the layer they are copied to. In this case the user must make sure beforehand that copying categories from one layer to another layer does not cause undesired grouping of different geometry objects into the same categories. This can be avoided by specifying only one layer. The module will then find the next free layer number and copy categories to there. The new layer number is reported at the end.

Areas are a special case because it is impossible to attach a cat to an area without a centroid; in this case, the module places new centroids in areas automatically for type=area.

The cat parameter is only used with option=add, option=sum and option=del.

Categories can be deleted for the given layer with option=del. If cat is set to -1, all categories for the given layer are deleted. If cat is zero or positive, only this category value will be deleted. By default, cat is set to 1 which means that only categories of value 1 will be deleted.

With option=report, the module reports for each layer and type the total number of categories, the minimum and the maximum category number. If there are e.g. two lines with line 1 having category 1 and line 1 having categories 1 and 2, then there are a total of three category values with minimum 1 and maximum 2.

The ids parameter specifies the list of feature IDs to which the operation is performed; by default, all vector feature ids are processed. The feature ID is an internal (unique) geometry ID that all vector primitives possess, and is separate from any category the feature may also possess. Use

  v.edit map=inputname tool=select

to find out the geometry ids of certain features.

EXAMPLES

  Report vector categories

v.category input=testmap option=report
LAYER/TABLE 1/testmap:
type       count        min        max
point          0          0          0
line        1379          1       1379
boundary       0          0          0
centroid       0          0          0
area           0          0          0
all         1379          1       1379

Report vector categories in JSON format:

v.category input=testmap option=report format=json

[
  {
      "type": "line",
      "layer": 1,
      "count": 1379,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 1379
  },
  {
      "type": "all",
      "layer": 1,
      "count": 1379,
      "min": 1,
      "max": 1379
  }
]

  Delete all vector categories in layer 1

v.category input=testmap output=outmap option=del cat=-1

  Add vector categories in layer 1 with step=2

v.category input=outmap output=stepmap option=add step=2
# report
v.category input=stepmap option=report
LAYER/TABLE 1/outmap:
type       count        min        max
point          0          0          0
line        1379          1       2757
boundary       0          0          0
centroid       0          0          0
area           0          0          0
all         1379          1       2757

  Add categories/centroids to a vector map without categories

v.category input=wkt output=wktnew option=add

Results can be tested using d.what.vect.

  Copy categories from layer 1 to layer 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8
Existing layer will be overwritten, non-existing will be created.

v.category input=observer output=observer_new option=transfer layer=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

  Print vector categories of given layer
Print vector categories from the first layer, only for feature ids 1-50.

v.category input=roads option=print layer=1 id=1-50

Print vector categories from the first layer, only for feature ids 1-50 in JSON format.

v.category input=roads option=print layer=1 id=1-50 format=json

  Print only layer numbers in JSON format

v.category input=roads option=layers format=json

  Using v.category JSON output with pandas
Using report option in JSON format with pandas:

import grass.script as gs
import pandas as pd
# Run v.category command with report option.
data = gs.parse_command(
    "v.category",
    input="bridges",
    option="report",
    format="json",
)
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
print(df)

    type  layer  count  min    max
0  point      1  10938    1  10938
1    all      1  10938    1  10938

Using print option with the first layer, only for feature ids 1-5 in JSON format with pandas:

import grass.script as gs
import pandas as pd
# Run v.category command with print option.
data = gs.parse_command(
    "v.category",
    input="bridges",
    option="print",
    ids="1-5",
    format="json",
)
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
print(df)

    id  layer  category
0   1      1         1
1   2      1         2
2   3      1         3
3   4      1         4
4   5      1         5

SEE ALSO
v.centroids, v.db.connect, v.edit, v.to.db

AUTHOR
Radim Blazek, ITC-irst, Trento, Italy
Modified (the id parameter) by Martin Landa, FBK-irst (formerly ITC-irst), Trento, Italy, 2008/02

SOURCE CODE

Available at: v.category source code (history)

Accessed: Monday May 11 17:55:02 2026

Main index | Vector index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

© 2003-2026 GRASS Development Team, GRASS 8.5.0 Reference Manual