Reference library

Python Code Samples

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

89 matches
Functions & basics medium

How to Invalidate Cache When Arguments Change in Python

A memoization decorator that caches function results keyed by arguments, automatically invalidating when inputs change.

decorators caching memoization
Python
from functools import wraps

def memoize(func):
    cache = {}
    
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        key = (args, tuple(sorted(kwargs.items())))
        if key not in cache:
            cache[key] = func(*args, **kwargs)
        return cache[key]
    
    return wrapper

@memoize
def expensiv…
14 0 Open
Errors & debugging medium

Implement circuit breaker open after failures demo in Python

A minimal CircuitBreaker class that calls a function and automatically 'opens' after a set number of consecutive failures, blocking further calls with a RuntimeError.

circuit-breaker resilience error-handling
Python
import time
from datetime import datetime


class CircuitBreaker:
    def __init__(self, threshold=3):
        self.threshold = threshold
        self.failure_count = 0
        self.is_open = False

    def call(self, func, *args, **kwargs):
        if self.is_open:
            raise RuntimeError("Circuit is OPEN")
  …
12 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Automatically Extract Every Archive in a Folder with Python

Walk through a folder and extract all ZIP, RAR, and 7Z archives into separate subdirectories using Python.

zipfile rarfile py7zr
Python
import zipfile
import rarfile
import py7zr
import pathlib

def extract_archives(folder: str):
    """Extract every ZIP, RAR, and 7Z archive in the given folder."""
    folder_path = pathlib.Path(folder)
    for archive_file in folder_path.iterdir():
        suffix = archive_file.suffix.lower()
        try:
           …
38 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Automatically Merge Hundreds of Excel Files Without Losing Formatting in Python

Merge all .xlsx files in a folder into a single Excel workbook, preserving individual sheet structures with sheet name prefixes.

excel pandas merge
Python
import pandas as pd
from pathlib import Path

def merge_excel_files(folder_path: str, output_path: str) -> None:
    """
    Merge all .xlsx files in a folder into a single Excel file,
    preserving individual sheet structures.
    """
    folder = Path(folder_path)
    excel_files = list(folder.glob("*.xlsx"))
    
…
46 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Generate an Inventory Report of All Files in Python

Walk a directory tree, collect metadata for every file, and write a CSV inventory report using Python's os, pathlib, and csv modules.

os.walk pathlib csv
Python
import os
import csv
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

def generate_inventory_report(root_dir: str = "/", output_file: str = "inventory_report.csv"):
    headers = ["File Path", "Size (bytes)", "Last Modified", "File Type"]
    rows = []
    start_time = datetime.now()
    
    for dirpath, dirna…
48 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Sync Two Folders in Python (Lightweight Backup)

A Python script that synchronizes a source folder to a destination folder, copying new or updated files and removing files that no longer exist in the source.

sync backup filesystem
Python
import os
import shutil
import sys
from pathlib import Path

def sync_folders(src: Path, dst: Path):
    """Sync src folder to dst folder, copying missing/updated files."""
    dst.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

    for src_path in src.rglob("*"):
        relative = src_path.relative_to(src)
        dst_path = ds…
37 0 Open
Files & data medium

Tail last N lines of growing log file in Python

Prints the last n lines of a log file and follows new content appended to it, polling for size changes.

log-file file-handling polling
Python
import time
from pathlib import Path

def tail_log(file_path, n=10, poll_interval=1.0, timeout=10):
    """
    Print the last n lines and follow new lines appended to a growing log file.
    """
    path = Path(file_path)
    # Read the last n lines from the current file
    with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets medium

How to Build a TTL Cache Dict in Python

Create a dictionary subclass that automatically expires keys after a fixed time-to-live using timestamps.

dictionary cache ttl
Python
import time

class TTLDict(dict):
    def __init__(self, ttl, *args, **kwargs):
        self.ttl = ttl
        self._expires = {}
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
        super().__setitem__(key, value)
        self._expires[key] = time.time() + self.ttl

    def __geti…
16 0 Open
Algorithms & data structures medium

Game of Life Next State Grid in Python

Compute the next generation of Conway's Game of Life from a 2D grid using the standard three rules with neighbor counting.

game-of-life grid cellular-automaton
Python
def next_state(grid):
    m, n = len(grid), len(grid[0])
    new = [[0] * n for _ in range(m)]
    for r in range(m):
        for c in range(n):
            total = 0
            for dr in (-1, 0, 1):
                for dc in (-1, 0, 1):
                    if dr == 0 and dc == 0:
                        continue
   …
14 0 Open
AI & LLM integration patterns medium

Circuit Breaker Pattern in Python for LLM API Calls

Implements a circuit breaker class that wraps LLM client calls to fail fast when the service is degrading, then recover automatically after a timeout.

circuit-breaker llm resilience
Python
import time

class CircuitBreaker:
    def __init__(self, failure_threshold=3, recovery_timeout=5):
        self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
        self.recovery_timeout = recovery_timeout
        self.failure_count = 0
        self.state = "closed"
        self.last_failure_time = None

    def call(self, …
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Automatically Clean Temporary Files from Applications Using Python

A Python script that safely deletes temporary files from common application temp directories across Windows, Linux, and macOS, tracking cleaned count and disk space.

temporary-files cleanup automation
Python
import os
import shutil
import tempfile
import platform

def clean_application_temp_files():
    """Delete common temporary file locations safely."""
    system = platform.system()
    temp_dirs = []

    if system == "Windows":
        temp_dirs.extend([
            os.path.join(os.getenv("LOCALAPPDATA"), "Temp"),
  …
56 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Automatically Download the Latest Software Release from GitHub with Python

Use the GitHub API to fetch the latest release metadata and download the first asset (binary or archive) to a local directory.

github api download
Python
import requests
import sys
from pathlib import Path

def download_latest_release(owner: str, repo: str, output_dir: str = ".") -> None:
    """Download the latest release asset from a GitHub repository."""
    url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest"
    response = requests.get(url)
    res…
63 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Automatically Generate Charts from CSV Files with One Command

Read a CSV file with headers, extract the first two numeric columns, and save a matplotlib line chart as a PNG image.

csv matplotlib charting
Python
import csv
import sys
from pathlib import Path
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

def generate_chart(csv_path: str) -> None:
    """Read a CSV file with headers and plot the first two numeric columns."""
    data = []
    with open(csv_path, 'r', newline='') as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        headers = next(re…
64 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Complete Website Sitemap Generator Without External Services

Crawl a website recursively using only Python's standard library to generate a structured sitemap of internal links.

sitemap web-crawler html-parser
Python
import json
from urllib.parse import urlparse, urljoin
from collections import deque
import urllib.request
import urllib.error
import re
from html.parser import HTMLParser

class SitemapParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self, base_url):
        super().__init__()
        self.base_url = base_url
        self.links …
44 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Network Ping Monitor in Python

A Python script that continuously pings a remote host using subprocess and reports connectivity status with timestamps and latency.

ping network monitoring
Python
import subprocess
import time

def ping_host(host, count=4):
    """Ping a host and return the results."""
    try:
        # Platform-independent ping command
        cmd = ["ping", "-c", str(count), host]
        result = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10)
        return result.stdout, r…
94 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Python Tool to Find All API Endpoints on a Website

A Python script that crawls a website, searches for common API endpoint patterns in HTML and JavaScript, and returns all discovered public API URLs.

api web-crawling automation
Python
import re
import requests
from urllib.parse import urljoin, urlparse
from collections import deque

def find_api_endpoints(base_url, max_pages=10):
    visited = set()
    queue = deque([base_url])
    api_endpoints = set()
    
    api_patterns = [
        r'/api/[a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+',
        r'/v[0-9]+/[a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+',…
52 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Python Utility That Verifies Backup Integrity Automatically

Automatically compute and verify SHA-256 checksums of backup files using a JSON manifest to detect missing or corrupted data.

sha256 backup integrity
Python
import hashlib
import os
import json

def compute_checksum(filepath, algorithm='sha256'):
    """Compute checksum for the given file."""
    hash_func = hashlib.new(algorithm)
    with open(filepath, 'rb') as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(4096), b''):
            hash_func.update(chunk)
    return hash_f…
51 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Website Accessibility Scanner Using Python

Scans a webpage for common accessibility issues like missing alt text, headings, labels, and landmarks using only Python.

accessibility a11y html
Python
import requests
from urllib.parse import urljoin
from html.parser import HTMLParser
import re

class AccessibilityParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.images_without_alt = []
        self.missing_headings = True
        self.has_main_tag = False
        self.label_for_inp…
39 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build an RSS feed from markdown blog posts in Python

Scans a folder of markdown files, extracts titles, dates, and excerpts, and generates a valid RSS 2.0 XML feed.

rss markdown xml
Python
import re
from pathlib import Path
from xml.etree.ElementTree import Element, SubElement, tostring
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from xml.dom import minidom

def build_rss(blog_dir, site_url="https://example.com"):
    feed = Element("rss", version="2.0")
    channel = SubElement(feed, "channel")
    SubElem…
11 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Convert DOCX to Text by Unzipping XML in Python

Extract plain text from a .docx file by unzipping the container and parsing word/document.xml with regex, using only Python's standard library.

docx zipfile xml
Python
import zipfile
import re
from pathlib import Path

def docx_to_text_unzip_xml(docx_path: str) -> str:
    """Extract plain text from a .docx file by unzipping and parsing document.xml."""
    docx_path = Path(docx_path)
    if not docx_path.exists():
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {docx_path}")

   …
12 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Convert HTML Tables to Excel Reports in Python

Convert HTML tables into formatted Excel reports using BeautifulSoup and Pandas with auto-adjusted column widths.

html excel beautifulsoup
Python
import pandas as pd
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from pathlib import Path

def html_table_to_excel(html_file: str, excel_file: str) -> None:
    """Convert HTML table to formatted Excel report."""
    with open(html_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
        html_content = f.read()
    
    soup = BeautifulSoup(html_…
45 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Create a Local Search Engine to Instantly Find Files on Your Computer in Python

Build a local file search engine in Python that indexes files by name, extension, and glob pattern for instant retrieval.

file search indexing os.walk
Python
import os
import sys
import time
from pathlib import Path
import fnmatch

class LocalSearchEngine:
    def __init__(self, root_directory="."):
        self.root_directory = Path(root_directory)
        self.file_index = {}
        
    def build_index(self):
        """Build a complete index of files in the root direc…
44 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Create a Python Script That Detects Website Technology Stack Automatically

This script sends an HTTP request to a URL and inspects headers and HTML content to identify technologies like servers, frameworks, and JavaScript libraries.

requests web scraping tech stack
Python
import requests
from re import search

def detect_tech_stack(url):
    tech_stack = []
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, timeout=5, headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'})
        headers = response.headers
        html = response.text.lower() if response.text else ''

        # Check server header
        …
42 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Detect Circular Imports Across Python Projects Automatically

This script walks through all .py files in a directory, builds an import graph, and uses depth-first search to find cycles—printing each circular dependency chain.

circular-imports import-graph ast
Python
import ast
import sys
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict, deque

def find_imports(filepath):
    """Return set of module names imported by a Python file."""
    imports = set()
    try:
        with open(filepath) as f:
            tree = ast.parse(f.read())
    except (SyntaxError, UnicodeDe…
39 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.