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How to Use a Fallback Path with FileNotFoundError in Python
Read a primary file and fall back to a backup file when the first is missing, returning an empty string if both fail.
import pathlib
def read_config(path):
primary = pathlib.Path(path)
fallback = pathlib.Path("config_backup.json")
try:
with primary.open("r") as f:
return f.read()
except FileNotFoundError:
try:
with fallback.open("r") as f:
return f.read()
…How to Load a YAML Subset in Python Without PyYAML
Parse a flat, key-value YAML file with the Python standard library (re and pathlib), handling comments, quotes, and inline comments while skipping nested structures.
import re
from pathlib import Path
def load_yaml_subset(path):
"""Load a flat YAML file (key: value) without external dependencies."""
data = {}
with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
for line in f:
# Skip empty lines and comments
line = line.strip()
if no…Read a CSV File with csv.DictReader in Python
Read a CSV file as a list of dictionaries, using csv.DictReader to map each row to column names.
import csv
from pathlib import Path
def read_csv_with_dictreader(file_path):
data = []
with open(file_path, mode='r', newline='', encoding='utf-8') as csvfile:
reader = csv.DictReader(csvfile)
for row in reader:
data.append(row)
return data
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Cre…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.
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…How to Count JSON Records in Python
Read a JSON file and count the number of top-level records, handling both list and dictionary structures.
import json
from pathlib import Path
def count_records(json_file):
"""Count top-level records in a JSON file."""
with open(json_file, "r") as f:
data = json.load(f)
# Handle both list of records and dict of records
if isinstance(data, list):
return len(data)
elif isinstance(da…How to Mock pathlib Path.read_text with mock_open in Python
Mock pathlib.Path.read_text using patch and mock_open to test file-reading code without touching the filesystem.
import pathlib
from unittest.mock import mock_open, patch
def read_config(filepath: pathlib.Path) -> str:
"""Read file content with pathlib."""
return filepath.read_text()
if __name__ == "__main__":
mock_data = "version: 1.0\nname: demo-app"
with patch("pathlib.Path.open", mock_open(read_data=mo…Browse by section
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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.
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- Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
- Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
- 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.