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Python Code Samples

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

144 matches
Errors & debugging easy

How to Measure Python Stack Depth with inspect.stack()

Measure the current call stack depth in Python using the inspect module to understand recursion depth and debug execution context.

inspect recursion stack
Python
import inspect

def stack_depth():
    return len(inspect.stack())

def recursive_function(n):
    if n == 0:
        print(f"Base case reached. Stack depth: {stack_depth()}")
        return
    recursive_function(n - 1)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(f"Initial stack depth: {stack_depth()}")
    recursive_funct…
16 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

How to Raise a Custom Exception with Extra Context in Python

Define a custom exception that carries extra context fields and raise it to provide richer error information.

exceptions custom-exception error-handling
Python
class InsufficientFundsError(Exception):
    def __init__(self, balance, amount):
        self.balance = balance
        self.amount = amount
        super().__init__(f"Withdrawal of ${amount} failed: balance ${balance} is insufficient")


def withdraw(balance, amount):
    if amount > balance:
        raise Insuffici…
13 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

How to catch ValueError in Python and print a friendly message

This code defines a function that safely converts text to an integer, catches ValueError, and prints a friendly message instead of crashing.

exception handling valueerror try except
Python
def parse_number(text):
    try:
        return int(text)
    except ValueError:
        print("Oops! That's not a valid number.")
        return None

if __name__ == "__main__":
    result = parse_number("abc")
    if result is None:
        print("Parsing failed.")
    else:
        print(f"Parsed value: {result}")
12 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Implement a Context Manager That Suppresses Exceptions in Python

Shows how to write a custom context manager that catches specified exceptions and optionally re-raises others, plus the stdlib contextlib.suppress alternative.

context-manager exception-handling with-statement
Python
import contextlib

class SuppressExceptions:
    def __init__(self, *exceptions):
        self.exceptions = exceptions

    def __enter__(self):
        return self

    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
        if exc_type is None:
            return False
        if not self.exceptions or exc_type in se…
12 0 Open
Files & data easy

Append a Line to a Log File in Python

Append a line to a file using a context manager and Path.open().

file-io logging pathlib
Python
from pathlib import Path

def append_to_log(filepath, message):
    with Path(filepath).open("a") as log_file:
        log_file.write(f"{message}\n")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    log_path = "log.txt"
    append_to_log(log_path, "First entry")
    append_to_log(log_path, "Second entry")
    
    # Verify contents
  …
21 0 Open
Files & data easy

Create a Personal Knowledge Base That Searches Notes Instantly in Python

Build a lightweight personal knowledge base with JSON storage and instant case-insensitive full-text search across note titles and content.

json knowledge base search
Python
import json
import re
import sys

class PersonalKnowledgeBase:
    def __init__(self, file_path="kb_notes.json"):
        self.file_path = file_path
        self.notes = self._load_notes()

    def _load_notes(self):
        try:
            with open(self.file_path, "r") as f:
                return json.load(f)
    …
56 0 Open
Files & data easy

File Data Helper Functions in Python

Read and write text and JSON files, and list files in a directory, using pathlib-based helper functions.

file-io pathlib json
Python
from pathlib import Path

def load_text_file(filepath):
    """Read a text file and return its contents as a string."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    if not path.exists():
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {filepath}")
    return path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")

def save_text_file(filepath, content):
…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Decompress a gzip File in Python

This code provides a function to decompress a .gz file, writing the decompressed content to a new file and returning the text, using the gzip standard library module.

gzip decompression file-handling
Python
import gzip
from pathlib import Path

def decompress_gzip(filepath: str, output_path: str | None = None) -> str:
    """Decompress a .gz file and return the decompressed content."""
    input_path = Path(filepath)
    if output_path is None:
        output_path = str(input_path.with_suffix(""))
    
    with gzip.open…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Extract Text from PDF Files in Python

Extract all readable text from a PDF file using PyPDF2, iterating over each page and concatenating the content.

pdf text-extraction pypdf2
Python
import PyPDF2

def extract_text_from_pdf(pdf_path):
    text = ""
    with open(pdf_path, "rb") as file:
        reader = PyPDF2.PdfReader(file)
        for page in reader.pages:
            text += page.extract_text() + "\n"
    return text.strip()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    pdf_path = "sample.pdf"
    extracted…
54 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Parse JSON, TXT, and CSV Files in Python

This code provides simple functions to read and parse JSON, text, and CSV files using Python's standard library, returning native data structures.

json csv file parsing
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path

def parse_json_file(filepath):
    """Read and parse a JSON file, returning its contents."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    with path.open('r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
        return json.load(f)

def parse_txt_lines(filepath):
    """Read a text file and return non-empty stripped …
16 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Read a Text File Line by Line in Python

Reads a text file line by line with an enumerated for loop and prints each line number and content.

file-io text-files loops
Python
from pathlib import Path

def read_lines(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        for line_number, line in enumerate(file, start=1):
            print(f"Line {line_number}: {line.rstrip()}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sample_file = Path("sample.txt")
    sample_file.write_text(…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Read and Write Files in Python (JSON + Text)

A beginner-friendly helper module to read and write JSON and text files using Python's pathlib and json standard library modules.

json file-io pathlib
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path


def load_json_file(filepath):
    """Load data from a JSON file and return as dict/list."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        return json.load(f)


def save_json_file(filepath, data):
    """Save data to a JSON file."""
    path = P…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Read and Write Text Files in Python

This code provides simple helper functions to save and load text files using Python's standard pathlib library.

file-io pathlib text-files
Python
from pathlib import Path


def save_text_data(filename: str, content: str) -> None:
    file_path = Path(filename)
    file_path.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")


def load_text_data(filename: str) -> str:
    file_path = Path(filename)
    return file_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")


if __name__ == "__main__":…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Split a Large File into Fixed-Size Parts in Python

Splits any binary or text file into multiple part files of a fixed byte size using Python's standard library.

file-splitting binary chunking
Python
import os
import math

def split_file(filepath, chunk_size_bytes):
    """Split a file into parts of fixed size (bytes). Creates part files in same directory."""
    filepath = os.path.abspath(filepath)
    basename = os.path.basename(filepath)
    file_size = os.path.getsize(filepath)
    num_parts = math.ceil(file_s…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Strip BOM When Reading UTF-8 Files in Python

Read a UTF-8 text file with Python's pathlib while automatically stripping the Byte Order Mark (BOM) so the first character isn't a hidden glyph.

bom utf8 pathlib
Python
from pathlib import Path

def read_text_without_bom(file_path):
    """Read a UTF-8 text file, stripping the BOM if present."""
    return Path(file_path).read_text(encoding='utf-8-sig')

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Create a sample file with BOM for demonstration
    sample_path = Path("sample_with_bom.txt")
    …
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Transcode a File from Latin-1 to UTF-8 in Python

Read a latin1-encoded text file and rewrite it as UTF-8 using Python's pathlib and encoding parameters.

encoding utf8 latin1
Python
from pathlib import Path

def transcode_to_utf8(input_path, output_path):
    """Read a latin1-encoded file and write it as UTF-8."""
    source = Path(input_path)
    target = Path(output_path)
    
    with source.open(encoding='latin1') as infile:
        content = infile.read()
    
    with target.open('w', encod…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Write Simple XML Documents with ElementTree in Python

Create well-structured XML documents in memory using Python's built-in ElementTree module, complete with nested elements, attributes, and text content.

xml elementtree serialization
Python
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

def create_xml_document():
    # Create root element
    root = ET.Element("catalog")
    
    # Create a book element with attributes and children
    book1 = ET.SubElement(root, "book", id="bk101")
    ET.SubElement(book1, "author").text = "Gambardella, Matthew"
    ET.SubElement(…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

Parse Fixed Width Data File by Column Slices in Python

Extract fields from fixed-width text by slicing each line at defined column offsets, with a dictionary describing the boundaries.

fixed-width string-slicing parsing
Python
from pathlib import Path


def parse_fixed_width(data: str, slices: dict[str, tuple[int, int]]) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    lines = data.strip().splitlines()
    records = []
    for line in lines:
        record = {}
        for name, (start, end) in slices.items():
            record[name] = line[start:end].strip()…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Read Entire File into String with read Method in Python

Open a file, read its entire content into a string using the .read() method, and clean up with a context manager.

file-io read-method context-manager
Python
from pathlib import Path

def read_file_to_string(file_path: str) -> str:
    """Read the entire file content into a string using the read method."""
    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        content = file.read()
    return content

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Create a temporary file for d…
16 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Count Word Frequency in Python with dict

Count how often each word appears in a text using Python's collections.Counter and regular expressions.

dictionary counter frequency
Python
from collections import Counter
import re

def count_word_frequency(text):
    """Count frequency of each word in text (case-insensitive)."""
    words = re.findall(r"\b\w+\b", text.lower())
    return dict(Counter(words))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sample_text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The …
13 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Count Words in Python with Dictionaries and Sets

Text analysis example that counts total words, finds unique words with a set, and tallies character frequencies with a dictionary.

dictionaries sets text-processing
Python
def analyze_text(text: str) -> dict:
    """Count words, find unique words, and show common characters."""
    words = text.lower().split()
    word_count = len(words)
    unique_words = set(words)
    char_counts = {}
    
    for word in words:
        for char in word:
            if char.isalpha():
               …
13 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Count word frequency in Python with dict and Counter

Count how often each word appears in a string using Counter, converted to a plain dict, and print results alphabetically.

counter dictionary word-frequency
Python
from collections import Counter
import re

def count_word_frequency(text):
    words = re.findall(r'\b\w+\b', text.lower())
    return dict(Counter(words))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sample_text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog barks, and the fox runs."
    frequency = count_word_frequency(…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

How to Count Word Frequencies in Python

Count how often each word appears in a string and list the unique words using Python dictionaries and sets.

dictionaries sets text-processing
Python
def text_processor(text):
    words = text.lower().split()
    word_count = {}
    for word in words:
        word_count[word] = word_count.get(word, 0) + 1
    unique_words = set(words)
    return word_count, unique_words

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sample_text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and t…
14 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

How to Count Word Frequencies in Python with Counter and Sets

This code processes a text string by lowercasing, splitting into words, counting frequencies with Counter, and extracting unique and sorted word lists using sets.

counter sets text-processing
Python
from collections import Counter

def process_text(text):
    words = text.lower().split()
    word_counts = Counter(words)
    unique_words = set(words)
    sorted_words = sorted(unique_words)
    
    return {
        "total_words": len(words),
        "unique_words": len(unique_words),
        "word_frequencies": di…
12 0 Open

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Each section groups closely related Python snippets.

Guide: free Python code samples library

Copy-ready Python snippets for learners and developers

PythonSkillset code samples are short, focused examples organised by topic and difficulty. Every snippet is server-rendered HTML — readable by search engines and easy to copy. Open any sample, read the notes, copy the code, then press Try in editor to run it in the browser with Pyodide.

How to use this library

  1. Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
  2. Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
  3. Run it in the IDE, tweak values, then take a related quiz or tutorial lesson

Samples vs tutorials and challenges

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.