Reference library

Python Code Samples

Copy-ready Python snippets by topic and difficulty — short, focused, and runnable in the browser editor.

111 matches
AI & LLM integration patterns easy

How to Build an Entity Memory Dict to Store Facts in Python

Store and recall facts about entities using nested dictionaries with remember, recall, and forget functions in Python.

memory dict nested-dict
Python
facts = {}

def remember(entity, attribute, value):
    if entity not in facts:
        facts[entity] = {}
    facts[entity][attribute] = value

def recall(entity, attribute):
    return facts.get(entity, {}).get(attribute, None)

def forget(entity, attribute=None):
    if attribute is None:
        facts.pop(entity, …
12 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Find Dead Code in a Python Project Using AST

Walk a project tree, parse every Python file with ast, and list defined functions that are never called anywhere.

ast dead-code static-analysis
Python
import ast
import os
import sys

def find_dead_code(project_path):
    defined_functions = {}
    called_functions = set()

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(project_path):
        for file in files:
            if file.endswith('.py'):
                filepath = os.path.join(root, file)
                with open(f…
41 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

How to check Python files for common coding mistakes

Walks a directory tree parsing each .py file with ast, reporting empty functions, bare try blocks, too many parameters, and empty classes.

ast linting code-quality
Python
import ast
import os
import sys

def check_file(filepath):
    try:
        with open(filepath) as f:
            code = f.read()
        tree = ast.parse(code, filename=filepath)
    except SyntaxError as e:
        print(f"{filepath}: SyntaxError: {e.msg}")
        return
    
    issues = []
    for node in ast.wal…
42 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing easy

Create Data Helper Functions in Python for Beginners

Build reusable Python helper functions to load, filter, sort, summarize, and save JSON data — a beginner-friendly starting point for small data pipelines.

json pipeline helpers
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Any, Dict, List


def load_json_file(filepath: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """Load JSON data from a file."""
    with Path(filepath).open("r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
        return json.load(file)


def filter_by_key(
    data: List[Dict[str, Any]], key: str,…
14 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing easy

How to Build Data Processing Functions in Python

Create reusable helper functions to load, filter, transform, and aggregate CSV data in Python.

csv pipeline etl
Python
import csv
from pathlib import Path


def load_data(filepath):
    """Load CSV data into a list of dicts."""
    with open(filepath, "r", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        return list(csv.DictReader(f))


def filter_rows(rows, column, value):
    """Keep rows where column equals value."""
    return [row for…
12 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing easy

Pipeline stage compose functions left to right in Python

Compose multiple functions into a left-to-right pipeline so each stage receives the output of the previous one.

composition pipeline functional
Python
def compose(*funcs):
    """Compose functions left to right: compose(f, g, h)(x) == h(g(f(x)))"""
    def composed(arg):
        result = arg
        for func in funcs:
            result = func(result)
        return result
    return composed

if __name__ == "__main__":
    def add_one(x):
        return x + 1

    …
16 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing medium

Python Exponential Backoff Retry Example

Retry a flaky function with exponential backoff and jitter-free delays, printing each attempt and finally returning the successful result.

retry backoff exception-handling
Python
import random
import time


def flaky_function():
    if random.random() < 0.6:
        raise ConnectionError("Temporary network error")
    return "success"


def retry_with_exponential_backoff(func, max_retries=5, base_delay=1.0):
    for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
        try:
            return func()
    …
16 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing easy

Test a Python Pipeline with Fixture Sample Rows

Test pipeline functions with sample rows provided by a pytest fixture, verifying required keys and value constraints.

pytest fixtures data-pipelines
Python
import pytest


def get_value(data: dict, key: str):
    return data.get(key)


def sample_rows():
    return [
        {"name": "Alice", "age": 30, "city": "London"},
        {"name": "Bob", "age": 25, "city": "Paris"},
        {"name": "Charlie", "age": 35, "city": "Berlin"},
    ]


@pytest.fixture
def sample_data(…
16 0 Open
Cloud + Python medium

How to Mock Azure Key Vault Secret Get in Python

Mock an Azure Key Vault client's get_secret method with unittest.mock to test functions that retrieve secret values without hitting the real service.

azure key-vault unittest
Python
import unittest
from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch


def get_secret(key_vault_client, secret_name):
    """Retrieve a secret value from an Azure Key Vault client."""
    secret = key_vault_client.get_secret(secret_name)
    return secret.value


class TestKeyVaultSecretGet(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_get_…
13 0 Open
Cloud + Python easy

How to Mock GCP Cloud Functions HTTP Events in Python

Simulate a GCP Cloud Functions HTTP event with a Python mock handler that constructs a realistic event payload and returns a JSON response.

gcp cloud-functions mock
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime, timezone


def mock_http_event(data):
    """Simulate a GCP Cloud Function HTTP event."""
    event = {
        "event_id": "mock-event-12345",
        "timestamp": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
        "event_type": "google.cloud.functions.http",
        "resource"…
14 0 Open
Cloud + Python easy

How to Validate Data Fields and Types in Python

Validate required fields and type correctness in a Python dictionary with small helper functions, returning a list of clear error messages.

validation data dict
Python
import json
from typing import Any, Dict, List


def validate_data(data: Dict[str, Any], required_fields: List[str]) -> List[str]:
    """Check required fields exist and are non-empty. Return list of errors."""
    errors = []
    for field in required_fields:
        value = data.get(field)
        if value is None o…
13 0 Open
Modern tooling easy

Data Conversion Helper Functions in Python

A set of beginner-friendly helper functions to convert between JSON strings and Python data, parse dates, and read/write files using pathlib.

json datetime pathlib
Python
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
import json

def to_json(data, indent=2):
    """Convert Python data to pretty-printed JSON string."""
    return json.dumps(data, indent=indent, default=str)

def from_json(json_string):
    """Parse JSON string back into Python data."""
    return json.loads(jso…
13 0 Open
Modern tooling easy

How to Format Data with Python's datetime and JSON Helpers

A beginner-friendly set of helper functions to format dates and safely read/write JSON files in Python.

datetime json files
Python
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
import json


def format_today(pattern: str = "%Y-%m-%d") -> str:
    """Return today's date formatted with the given pattern."""
    return datetime.now().strftime(pattern)


def load_json(file_path: str) -> dict:
    """Read and parse a JSON file safely."""
    …
12 0 Open
Modern tooling easy

How to Mock Fabric Connections in Python for Task Testing

Create a lightweight MockConnection class to replace fabric.Connection and test task functions without SSH.

fabric mocking testing
Python
from fabric import Connection


class MockConnection:
    """Minimal mock of fabric.Connection for task testing."""

    def __init__(self):
        self.commands = []

    def run(self, command, **kwargs):
        self.commands.append(command)
        return f"OK: {command}"


def deploy(conn):
    """Deploy the app:…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Build a Python Performance Profiler That Generates Readable Reports

Use cProfile and pstats to profile Python functions and print a sorted performance report showing the top time-consuming calls.

profiling cprofile pstats
Python
import cProfile
import pstats
import io
from pathlib import Path

def slow_function():
    total = 0
    for i in range(500_000):
        total += i ** 2
    return total

def fast_function():
    total = sum(i * i for i in range(500_000))
    return total

def profile_functions():
    profiler = cProfile.Profile()
  …
45 0 Open
Concurrency & performance easy

How to Memoize Async Functions with lru_cache in Python

Cache async function results with functools.lru_cache to avoid repeated expensive awaits, cutting total execution from ~0.4s to ~0.2s in this example.

asyncio lru_cache memoization
Python
from functools import lru_cache
import asyncio

@lru_cache(maxsize=128)
async def fetch_data(user_id: int) -> str:
    # Simulate expensive async operation
    await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
    return f"Data for user {user_id}"

async def main():
    start = asyncio.get_event_loop().time()
    
    # First calls (miss cach…
13 0 Open
Concurrency & performance easy

How to Memoize Pure Functions with functools.lru_cache in Python

Use functools.lru_cache to memoize a pure Fibonacci function and avoid recomputing repeated values.

lru-cache memoization functools
Python
from functools import lru_cache


@lru_cache(maxsize=128)
def fibonacci(n: int) -> int:
    """Return the nth Fibonacci number (0-indexed) using memoization."""
    if n < 2:
        return n
    return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    for i in range(10):
        print(f"fibonacci({…
15 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Run Blocking Code in an Executor with asyncio in Python

This code runs blocking functions concurrently without stalling the event loop by offloading them to thread pool executors via asyncio.

asyncio executor concurrency
Python
import asyncio
import time


def blocking_task(name: str, duration: float) -> str:
    """Simulate a blocking operation."""
    time.sleep(duration)
    return f"Finished {name} after {duration}s"


async def main() -> None:
    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
    results = await asyncio.gather(
        loop.run_in_…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Use multiprocessing Pool map and starmap in Python

Parallelize functions over iterables with Pool.map, and unpack multiple arguments via Pool.starmap.

multiprocessing parallelism pool
Python
from multiprocessing import Pool


def square(x):
    return x * x


def add_and_multiply(a, b, c):
    return (a + b) * c


if __name__ == "__main__":
    numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
    with Pool(processes=2) as pool:
        squares = pool.map(square, numbers)
        print(f"squares: {squares}")

        starmap_arg…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance easy

How to Use pool.map for CPU-Bound Tasks in Python

Distribute CPU-intensive functions across processes with multiprocessing.Pool.map and measure the performance gain.

multiprocessing pool cpu-bound
Python
from multiprocessing import Pool
import time

def cpu_bound_task(n):
    """Mock CPU-bound work: compute sum of squares."""
    total = 0
    for i in range(n):
        total += i * i
    return total

if __name__ == "__main__":
    numbers = [10_000_000, 12_000_000, 8_000_000, 15_000_000]

    start = time.perf_count…
11 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Use threading.RLock in Python

Demonstrates threading.RLock, a reentrant lock that allows the same thread to acquire it multiple times without deadlocking — essential for recursive functions sharing state across threads.

threading rlock concurrency
Python
import threading
import time

lock = threading.RLock()
shared_counter = 0

def recursive_increment(value, depth):
    global shared_counter
    with lock:
        shared_counter += 1
        print(f"Depth {depth}: counter = {shared_counter}")
        if depth > 1:
            recursive_increment(value, depth - 1)

def…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance easy

How to use ThreadPoolExecutor for concurrent tasks in Python

Run blocking functions in parallel with ThreadPoolExecutor and as_completed, cutting total runtime from 5 sequential sleeps to about 1 second.

concurrency threadpoolexecutor parallel
Python
import time
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed


def fetch_data(item):
    """Simulate a slow operation with a fixed delay."""
    time.sleep(0.2)
    return item * 2


def main():
    items = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
    start = time.perf_counter()

    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=3) as ex…
14 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

How to Compare Execution Speed Between Python Functions

Measure and compare the average execution time of multiple Python functions using a reusable benchmark helper with time.perf_counter.

performance benchmarking time
Python
import time
import random

def method_a(values):
    """Sort using built-in sorted."""
    return sorted(values)

def method_b(values):
    """Sort using list's sort method."""
    values_copy = values[:]
    values_copy.sort()
    return values_copy

def method_c(values):
    """Sort manually using bubble sort (slow,…
38 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

How to Use Basic Type Hints (int, str) for Return Values in Python

Declare a simple function with int and str type hints and a typed return value in Python.

type-hints annotations functions
Python
def greet(name: str, age: int) -> str:
    return f"{name} is {age} years old."


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(greet("Alice", 30))
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.