Reference library

Python Code Samples

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

7 matches
Files & data medium

How to Compare Two Files by Content Hash Equality in Python

Compares two files by hashing their contents with SHA-256, skipping the hash if file sizes differ, and returns whether they are identical.

hashlib sha256 file-hashing
Python
import hashlib
from pathlib import Path

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

def files_are_identical(file_a: Pat…
13 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Find Duplicate Files by Size and Hash in Python

Recursively scan a directory, group files by size, then hash candidates to identify exact duplicate files.

deduplication filesystem hashlib
Python
import hashlib
from pathlib import Path

def hash_file(path, chunk_size=8192):
    hasher = hashlib.md5()
    with open(path, 'rb') as f:
        while chunk := f.read(chunk_size):
            hasher.update(chunk)
    return hasher.hexdigest()

def find_duplicates(directory):
    size_map = {}
    for path in Path(dir…
16 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
API design & gRPC medium

How to Build an Idempotency-Key POST Handler in Python

Python HTTP server mock that accepts POST requests and deduplicates them using an Idempotency-Key header, returning the same response for repeated calls.

http-server idempotency api-mock
Python
import hashlib
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from urllib.parse import urlparse


class MockAPI(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    responses = {}

    def do_POST(self):
        length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
        body = self.rfile.read(length).decode("utf-8")
…
14 0 Open
API design & gRPC medium

Verify Webhook HMAC Signatures in Python

Create and verify HMAC-SHA256 signatures for webhook payloads using Python's hmac module, protecting against tampering.

webhooks hmac security
Python
import hashlib
import hmac
import json

SECRET = b"super-secret-webhook-key"

def create_signature(payload: bytes) -> str:
    return hmac.new(SECRET, payload, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()

def verify_signature(payload: bytes, signature: str) -> bool:
    expected = create_signature(payload)
    return hmac.compare_dig…
12 0 Open
Caching & Redis medium

How to Build a Bloom Filter to Reduce Cache Misses in Python

Implement a probabilistic Bloom filter in Python that lets a cache quickly determine which keys are definitely not present, reducing expensive source lookups on cache misses.

bloom-filter caching probabilistic
Python
import hashlib
import random

class BloomFilter:
    def __init__(self, size=100, num_hashes=3):
        self.size = size
        self.num_hashes = num_hashes
        self.bit_array = [0] * size

    def _hashes(self, item):
        result = []
        for i in range(self.num_hashes):
            hash_value = int(hash…
14 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Create and Verify HMAC SHA256 API Signatures in Python

Generate and verify HMAC-SHA256 signatures for API requests using Python's hmac, hashlib, and base64 modules.

hmac sha256 authentication
Python
import hmac
import hashlib
import base64
import json
from datetime import datetime, timezone

def create_api_signature(secret_key: str, method: str, path: str, timestamp: str, body: dict = None) -> str:
    """Create HMAC-SHA256 signature for API request."""
    payload = {
        "method": method.upper(),
        "p…
14 0 Open

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