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How to Build a Subcommand Parser Tree with argparse in Python
Create a CLI with nested subcommands (like git) using argparse subparsers, where each subcommand maps to its own handler function.
import argparse
def cmd_add(args):
print(f"Adding {args.num1} + {args.num2} = {args.num1 + args.num2}")
def cmd_sub(args):
print(f"Subtracting {args.num1} - {args.num2} = {args.num1 - args.num2}")
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="calculator")
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(d…
How to Create a Counter Closure in Python
Build a closure in Python that remembers and increments a counter across calls without using global variables.
def create_counter(start=0):
count = start
def increment():
nonlocal count
count += 1
return count
return increment
if __name__ == "__main__":
counter = create_counter(10)
print(counter())
print(counter())
print(counter())
Redact secrets from log message formatter in Python
Build a custom logging.Formatter that masks passwords, API keys, and credit card numbers in log output.
import re
import logging
class RedactingFormatter(logging.Formatter):
"""Formatter that masks sensitive data in log messages."""
SENSITIVE_PATTERNS = [
(re.compile(r'password[=:]\s*\S+', re.IGNORECASE), 'password=[REDACTED]'),
(re.compile(r'api[_-]?key[=:]\s*\S+', re.IGNORECASE), 'api_key…
Build a Personal Work Hours Tracker in Python
A Python class that logs daily work hours to a CSV file and produces a weekly summary of total hours worked.
import csv
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime, date
class WorkHoursTracker:
def __init__(self, file_path="work_hours.csv"):
self.file_path = Path(file_path)
if not self.file_path.exists():
with open(self.file_path, "w", newline="") as f:
writer = csv…
Build a Secure Local Password Vault with Encrypted Storage in Python
A Python class that stores and retrieves passwords in an encrypted JSON file using Fernet symmetric encryption from the cryptography library.
import json
import os
import base64
import hashlib
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
from getpass import getpass
class PasswordVault:
def __init__(self, vault_file="vault.json", key_file="vault.key"):
self.vault_file = vault_file
self.key_file = key_file
self.key = self._load_or_creat…
How to Build a CSV Comparison Tool That Highlights Every Changed Cell in Python
Read two CSV files with DictReader, compare cell by cell, and return a list of dictionaries describing each changed cell using only the standard library.
import csv
from pathlib import Path
def csv_cell_diff(file_a: str, file_b: str) -> list[dict]:
rows_a = list(csv.DictReader(Path(file_a).open('r', newline='')))
rows_b = list(csv.DictReader(Path(file_b).open('r', newline='')))
if not rows_a or not rows_b:
return []
columns = list(rows_a[0].key…
Build a Case-Insensitive Dict with a Wrapper Class in Python
Create a custom dict subclass that treats keys as case-insensitive by normalizing them to lowercase, with a full set of common dict methods.
class CaseInsensitiveDict:
def __init__(self, data=None):
self._data = {}
if data:
self.update(data)
def __setitem__(self, key, value):
self._data[str(key).lower()] = value
def __getitem__(self, key):
return self._data[str(key).lower()]
def __delitem__(sel…
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.
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…
How to Build a Two-Way Dictionary in Python
Implement a BiDict class that supports both forward key-to-value and reverse value-to-key lookups with a simple add, delete, and update API.
class BiDict:
def __init__(self, data=None):
self.forward = {}
self.backward = {}
if data:
self.update(data)
def update(self, data):
for key, value in data.items():
self[key] = value
def __setitem__(self, key, value):
self.forward[key] = val…
How to Build a Linked List Node Class in Python
Create a Node class and a LinkedList class with insert, remove, and display methods to manage a singly linked list.
class Node:
def __init__(self, data):
self.data = data
self.next = None
class LinkedList:
def __init__(self):
self.head = None
def insert(self, data):
new_node = Node(data)
if not self.head:
self.head = new_node
else:
current = self.…
Implement Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) in Python
Build a RandomizedSet class that supports insert, delete, and get_random in average O(1) time using a list and a dictionary mapping values to indices.
import random
class RandomizedSet:
def __init__(self):
self.values = []
self.index_map = {}
def insert(self, val):
if val in self.index_map:
return False
self.index_map[val] = len(self.values)
self.values.append(val)
return True
def delete(self…
Build a Generator Pipeline in Python: Filter Then Map
Create a lazy data pipeline by chaining generator functions that read, filter, map, and write data step by step.
def read_data():
return ["a", "bb", "ccc", "dd", "eeeee", "f"]
def filter_short(words):
return (word for word in words if len(word) >= 2)
def map_to_upper(words):
return (word.upper() for word in words)
def write_data(words):
for word in words:
print(word)
if __name__ == "__main__":
…
How to Build a Backpressure Generator Pause Producer Demo in Python
Demonstrates a producer–consumer pattern with a fixed-size buffer that pauses production when full, simulating backpressure.
import time
import collections
def producer(buffer, max_size, items):
"""Adds items to the buffer until full, then pauses."""
for item in items:
while len(buffer) >= max_size:
print(f"Buffer full ({len(buffer)}/{max_size}) — producer paused")
time.sleep(0.1)
buffer.appe…
How to Build a Data Helper for LLM Prompts in Python
A beginner-friendly helper class that flattens nested dictionaries, formats prompt templates, and safely parses JSON for AI/LLM pipelines.
import json
from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
class DataHelper:
"""Simple helper class for working with data in AI/LLM pipelines."""
def __init__(self, data: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> None:
self.data = data or {}
def flatten(self, prefix: str = "") -> Dict[str, Any]…
Build a Complete Web Scraper with Requests and BeautifulSoup in Python
Scrape multiple paginated pages from a website using Requests and BeautifulSoup, with retry logic, error handling, and CSV export.
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import csv
import time
from typing import List, Dict, Optional
class WebScraper:
def __init__(self, base_url: str, output_file: str = "scraped_data.csv"):
self.base_url = base_url
self.output_file = output_file
self.session = requests.Session()…
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.
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 …
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.
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…
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.
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_/-]+',…
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.
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…
Build a Terminal Dashboard That Displays Real-Time System Performance in Python
A Python script that reads Linux system files to display a real-time terminal dashboard with CPU usage, memory usage, and CPU temperature.
import os, time, sys
from collections import deque
def get_cpu_temp():
try:
with open("/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp") as f:
return round(int(f.read().strip()) / 1000, 1)
except:
return None
def get_mem_usage():
with open("/proc/meminfo") as f:
lines = f.readli…
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.
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…
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.
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…
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.
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…
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.
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…
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