from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''PROJCS["NAD27 / California zone IV",GEOGCS["NAD27",DATUM["North_American_Datum_1927",SPHEROID["Clarke 1866",6378206.4,294.9786982138982,AUTHORITY["EPSG","7008"]],AUTHORITY["EPSG","6267"]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],UNIT["degree",0.01745329251994328,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9122"]],AUTHORITY["EPSG","4267"]],UNIT["US survey foot",0.3048006096012192,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9003"]],PROJECTION["Lambert_Conformal_Conic_2SP"],PARAMETER["standard_parallel_1",37.25],PARAMETER["standard_parallel_2",36],PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",35.33333333333334],PARAMETER["central_meridian",-119],PARAMETER["false_easting",2000000],PARAMETER["false_northing",0],AUTHORITY["EPSG","26744"],AXIS["X",EAST],AXIS["Y",NORTH]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)