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Python Code Samples

Easy snippets you can copy, study, and run in the browser editor.

115 matches
Automation & scripting easy

How to Build a Docker Image Tag Script in Python

Generate consistent Docker image tags from service names and versions with automatic normalization.

docker scripting cli
Python
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Mock script for building docker image tags."""


def build_tag(service_name: str, version: str, registry: str = "docker.io") -> str:
    """Construct a docker image tag."""
    safe_name = service_name.lower().replace("_", "-")
    return f"{registry}/{safe_name}:{version}"


if __name__ == "…
12 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Build a Python argparse CLI for Beginners

Build a beginner-friendly command-line interface using Python's argparse module with positional and optional arguments.

argparse cli command-line
Python
import argparse

def greet(name, greeting="Hello", uppercase=False):
    message = f"{greeting}, {name}!"
    if uppercase:
        message = message.upper()
    return message

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A simple CLI greet tool for beginners.")
    parser.add_argument("name", help="…
16 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Build a Simple Python CLI with argparse

Create a friendly command-line greeting tool with argparse that accepts a positional name and optional flags for custom greetings and uppercase output.

argparse cli command-line
Python
import argparse

def greet(name, greeting="Hello", uppercase=False):
    message = f"{greeting}, {name}!"
    return message.upper() if uppercase else message

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="A simple greeting tool to demonstrate argparse basics."
    )
    parser.…
12 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Build a Simple argparse CLI in Python

Create a beginner-friendly command-line tool with argparse that reads a file, optionally uppercases its lines, and prints a configurable number of lines.

argparse cli automation
Python
import argparse

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="Automate file processing with a simple CLI tool."
    )
    parser.add_argument("filename", help="Path to the input file")
    parser.add_argument("--uppercase", action="store_true", help="Convert text to uppercase")
    parser.add…
15 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Build an argparse CLI That Filters File Lines by Keyword in Python

This Python script is a command-line tool built with argparse that reads a text file and prints only the lines that contain (or don't contain) a given keyword.

argparse cli filter
Python
import argparse
import sys

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Filter lines from a file by keyword.")
    parser.add_argument("input", type=str, help="File to read")
    parser.add_argument("keyword", type=str, help="Keyword to filter lines")
    parser.add_argument("--contains", action="sto…
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Bump Version in pyproject.toml Using Regex in Python

Updates the version field in a pyproject.toml file using a regex substitution with the Python standard library.

pyproject regex versioning
Python
import re
from pathlib import Path

def bump_version(pyproject_path: str, new_version: str) -> None:
    """Update version in pyproject.toml using regex."""
    path = Path(pyproject_path)
    content = path.read_text()

    # Match version = "x.y.z" (simple or PEP 440 with pre-release)
    pattern = r'^version\s*=\s*…
13 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Clean Old Temp Files in Python

A Python script that scans a directory and deletes files older than a configurable age (default: one week), with safe error handling.

file-system cleanup pathlib
Python
import os
import time
from pathlib import Path

def clean_old_temp_files(directory=".", max_age_seconds=7 * 24 * 60 * 60):
    """
    Remove files in directory older than the specified age.
    
    Args:
        directory: Path to directory to clean
        max_age_seconds: Maximum age in seconds (default: 1 week)
 …
13 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Compress a Folder in Python While Preserving Directory Structure

A Python function that uses zipfile to recursively compress a folder, maintaining the original directory hierarchy inside the zip archive.

compression zipfile file-archiving
Python
import os
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path

def compress_folder(source_dir: str, output_zip: str):
    """
    Compress a folder into a zip file, preserving the directory structure.
    
    Args:
        source_dir: Path to the source directory to compress
        output_zip: Path for the output zip file
    "…
35 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Create a File Organizer That Sorts Files Automatically in Python

A Python script that scans a given folder, categorizes files by extension (Images, Documents, Audio, Video, Archives, Misc), and moves them into subfolders automatically.

file organization automation pathlib
Python
import os
import shutil
from pathlib import Path

FILE_CATEGORIES = {
    "Images": [".jpg", ".jpeg", ".png", ".gif", ".bmp"],
    "Documents": [".pdf", ".docx", ".txt", ".csv", ".xlsx"],
    "Audio": [".mp3", ".wav", ".flac", ".aac"],
    "Video": [".mp4", ".mkv", ".avi", ".mov"],
    "Archives": [".zip", ".tar", ".g…
45 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Create a Mock Headless Browser Screenshot Stub in Python

This code provides a deterministic stub that simulates capturing webpage screenshots with a headless browser, returning formatted output without real browser dependencies.

mock headless screenshot
Python
import subprocess
import sys

def mock_screenshot_webpage(url: str, width: int = 1280, height: int = 800) -> str:
    """Stub that simulates taking a screenshot of a webpage using headless browser."""
    # In real implementation, you would use playwright/selenium/headless chrome
    result = {
        "url": url,
   …
13 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Create a Password Protected Zip Archive in Python

Generate a password-protected zip archive and verify password correctness using the standard library zipfile module.

zipfile password encryption
Python
import zipfile
import tempfile
import os


def create_password_protected_zip(zip_path, password: str, files: dict):
    """
    Create a zip archive with password protection (mock encryption).

    Args:
        zip_path: Path where the zip file will be created
        password: Password for the archive
        files:…
13 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Create a Simple Python CLI with argparse

Build a beginner-friendly command-line tool with argparse that accepts positional and optional arguments to greet users flexibly.

argparse cli command-line
Python
import argparse

def greet(name, greeting="Hello", uppercase=False):
    message = f"{greeting}, {name}!"
    return message.upper() if uppercase else message

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="A simple CLI tool that greets users."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "name",
   …
15 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Cross Post Markdown to dev.to API in Python

A Python function that POSTs markdown content to the dev.to API and handles HTTP or URLError exceptions with mock API testing.

api dev.to markdown
Python
import json
from urllib import request, error


def cross_post_to_devto(markdown_content, api_key, devto_api_url="https://dev.to/api/articles"):
    """
    Mock cross-posting of markdown content to the dev.to API.
    Returns the API response or an error message.
    """
    payload = json.dumps({
        "article": …
11 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Deploy a Static Site Build to an Nginx Directory in Python

Copy a static site build directory into an Nginx web root using Python's shutil and pathlib modules.

automation deployment shutil
Python
import shutil
import os
from pathlib import Path

SRC_DIR = Path("build")
DEST_DIR = Path("/var/www/html")

def deploy_site(src: Path, dest: Path) -> None:
    if not src.exists():
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"Build directory not found: {src}")

    dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

    for item in src.ite…
16 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Download a List of URLs to a Directory in Python

This script downloads a list of URLs into a specified directory, creating the folder if needed and keeping original filenames.

urllib download file-io
Python
import urllib.request
from pathlib import Path

def download_urls(url_list, directory):
    """Download each URL in url_list into directory, keeping original filenames."""
    save_dir = Path(directory)
    save_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    
    for url in url_list:
        filename = url.rstrip('/').spl…
16 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Filter Docker Containers for Pruning in Python

Simulate Docker's container prune by filtering a JSON list for exited containers older than a cutoff, returning pruned IDs and space freed.

docker json datetime
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime, timedelta


def parse_docker_ps(json_output: str, older_than_hours: int = 24) -> list:
    containers = json.loads(json_output)
    cutoff = datetime.now() - timedelta(hours=older_than_hours)
    return [
        c for c in containers
        if datetime.fromisoformat(c["crea…
13 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Find Stale GitHub Issues in Python

Filter a list of GitHub issues to find those not updated within a configurable number of days using Python datetime arithmetic.

github issues automation
Python
import os
from datetime import datetime, timezone, timedelta
import re

# Simulated GitHub issue data structure
SAMPLE_ISSUES = [
    {"number": 101, "title": "Login button not working", "updated_at": "2025-06-01T12:00:00Z", "assignee": "alice"},
    {"number": 102, "title": "Fix database migration error", "updated_at…
36 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Generate a QR Code in Python

Generate a QR code image from a URL string using the qrcode library and save it as a PNG file.

qrcode automation image-generation
Python
import qrcode

# Data to encode
data = "https://www.example.com"

# Create QR code instance
qr = qrcode.QRCode(
    version=1,
    error_correction=qrcode.constants.ERROR_CORRECT_L,
    box_size=10,
    border=4,
)

# Add data to QR code
qr.add_data(data)
qr.make(fit=True)

# Create an image from the QR code
img = qr.…
38 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Generate a cloud-init User Data Mock in Python

Generate a cloud-init user data mock for a VM using a dataclass and JSON in Python.

cloud-init automation dataclasses
Python
import json
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict

@dataclass
class VMConfig:
    hostname: str
    cpus: int
    memory_mb: int
    ssh_key: str

def generate_cloud_init_mock(config: VMConfig) -> str:
    """Build a cloud-init user-data mock for a VM."""
    user_data = {
        "hostname": config.hostname,
    …
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Generate an Inventory CSV of Installed pip Packages in Python

This script uses subprocess and csv to list all installed pip packages and write their names and versions into a CSV inventory file.

pip csv subprocess
Python
import subprocess
import csv

def get_installed_packages():
    """Return a list of (name, version) tuples for installed pip packages."""
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["pip", "list", "--format=freeze"],
        capture_output=True,
        text=True,
        check=True
    )
    packages = []
    for line in r…
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Hash Duplicate Photos and Delete Copies in Python

This script hashes image files in a directory using SHA-256 and deletes duplicate copies while keeping the first occurrence, ideal for cleaning up photo libraries.

hashlib deduplication file-automation
Python
from pathlib import Path
import hashlib

def file_hash(path, chunk_size=8192):
    hasher = hashlib.sha256()
    with open(path, "rb") as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(chunk_size), b""):
            hasher.update(chunk)
    return hasher.hexdigest()

def delete_duplicate_photos(directory):
    directory …
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Implement argparse CLI Command in Python

Build a beginner-friendly command-line tool with argparse that accepts positional and optional arguments, flags, and prints a customizable greeting.

argparse cli command-line
Python
import argparse


def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A simple CLI tool to greet users.")
    parser.add_argument("name", help="Your name")
    parser.add_argument("-g", "--greeting", default="Hello", help="Greeting word (default: Hello)")
    parser.add_argument("--uppercase", action="store_…
15 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Import Users from CSV into LDAP-like Dicts in Python

Reads a CSV of user records and converts each row into an LDAP-style dictionary with standard attributes using Python's csv module.

csv ldap import
Python
import csv
import io
from pathlib import Path


def mock_ldap_import(csv_path):
    """
    Reads a CSV file with user data and returns a list of LDAP-like user dicts.
    Adds standard LDAP attributes that would come from directory schema.
    """
    with open(csv_path, newline="", encoding="utf-8") as csvfile:
    …
15 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Kill Zombie Processes Matching a Name in Python

Scans running processes with ps, finds zombies whose command name matches a pattern, and attempts to kill them with SIGKILL.

subprocess process automation
Python
import subprocess
import re
import signal


def find_zombies(name_pattern):
    """Find PIDs of zombie processes matching the given pattern."""
    result = subprocess.run(["ps", "-eo", "pid,stat,comm"], capture_output=True, text=True)
    zombies = []
    for line in result.stdout.splitlines()[1:]:  # Skip header
   …
11 0 Open

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Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.