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Python Code Samples

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

506 matches
Errors & debugging easy

How to catch ValueError in Python and print a friendly message

This code defines a function that safely converts text to an integer, catches ValueError, and prints a friendly message instead of crashing.

exception handling valueerror try except
Python
def parse_number(text):
    try:
        return int(text)
    except ValueError:
        print("Oops! That's not a valid number.")
        return None

if __name__ == "__main__":
    result = parse_number("abc")
    if result is None:
        print("Parsing failed.")
    else:
        print(f"Parsed value: {result}")
12 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Try Except ValueError in Python: Handle Conversion Errors

Catch ValueError exceptions when converting strings to integers or performing arithmetic, returning None on failure instead of crashing.

try-except valueerror exception
Python
def convert_to_int(value):
    try:
        return int(value)
    except ValueError as error:
        print(f"Conversion failed: {error}")
        print(f"Problem value was: {repr(value)}")
        return None


def divide_numbers(numerator, denominator):
    try:
        result = numerator / denominator
        retur…
14 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Use pprint for Nested Structure Debug Output in Python

Pretty-print nested dictionaries and lists with pprint for readable, organized debug output.

pprint debugging nested-structure
Python
from pprint import pprint

def build_nested_structure():
    """Create a sample nested data structure for demonstration."""
    return {
        "project": "DataPipeline",
        "config": {
            "inputs": ["raw_1.json", "raw_2.json"],
            "processing": {
                "steps": ["clean", "transform",…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

Audit File Permissions Across a Project in Python

Walks through every file and directory in a project tree and prints POSIX permissions plus owner UID.

file permissions os.walk audit
Python
import os
import stat
from pathlib import Path

def audit_file_permissions(project_root):
    """Walk through project_root and print path, owner, and permissions for every file."""
    results = []
    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(project_root):
        for name in files + dirs:
            full_path = os.path.joi…
57 0 Open
Files & data easy

Automatically Detect Corrupted Files Using SHA-256 Checksums in Python

Compute SHA-256 checksums of files and compare them to detect corruption in Python.

checksum file-integrity hashlib
Python
import hashlib
import os

def compute_sha256(filepath: str) -> str:
    """Compute SHA-256 checksum of a file."""
    sha256 = hashlib.sha256()
    with open(filepath, 'rb') as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(4096), b''):
            sha256.update(chunk)
    return sha256.hexdigest()

def validate_file_int…
60 1 Open
Files & data easy

Compare Two Folder Structures and Find Differences in Python

Walks two directories using os.walk, builds sets of relative paths, and prints items that exist in only one folder.

filesystem os.walk comparison
Python
import os

def compare_folders(path1, path2):
    """
    Compare the file/folder structure of two directories and print differences.
    """
    def get_structure(root):
        structure = set()
        for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(root):
            rel_path = os.path.relpath(dirpath, root)
         …
63 0 Open
Files & data easy

Convert File Data to a Dictionary in Python

This function scans a directory and converts each file's metadata (name, size, extension) into a structured dictionary for easy access.

file-metadata pathlib directory
Python
from pathlib import Path

def convert_files_data(directory: str) -> dict:
    data = {}
    base = Path(directory)
    if not base.exists():
        return data
    for file in base.iterdir():
        if file.is_file():
            data[file.name] = {
                "size": file.stat().st_size,
                "exten…
18 0 Open
Files & data medium

Create a ZIP Archive of a Folder in Python

Recursively zip all files in a folder into a single archive using the standard library zipfile and pathlib modules.

zipfile pathlib archives
Python
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path

def zip_folder(source_dir: str, archive_path: str) -> None:
    """Zip all files in source_dir recursively into archive_path."""
    source = Path(source_dir)
    with zipfile.ZipFile(archive_path, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as archive:
        for file_path in source.rglob("*"…
17 0 Open
Files & data medium

Download Files from Internet with Progress Bar in Python

Download a file from the internet while displaying a text progress bar in the terminal.

urllib download progress bar
Python
import urllib.request
import sys

def download_with_progress(url, filename):
    """Download a file with a simple text progress bar."""
    def report_hook(block_count, block_size, total_size):
        downloaded = block_count * block_size
        if total_size > 0:
            percent = min(100, int(downloaded * 100 …
54 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:
           …
40 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"))
    
…
47 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Bulk Insert Rows into SQLite in Python

Insert many rows into an SQLite table in one call with cursor.executemany, then verify them with a SELECT query.

sqlite bulk-insert database
Python
import sqlite3

# Create an in-memory database and a table
conn = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
cursor = conn.cursor()
cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE products (name TEXT, price REAL, quantity INTEGER)")

# Data to insert in bulk
products = [
    ("Laptop", 999.99, 5),
    ("Mouse", 19.99, 50),
    ("Keyboard", 49.99, 30),…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Compress a String to Gzip Bytes in Python

Compress a string into gzip-compressed bytes entirely in memory using the standard library gzip module.

gzip compression bytes
Python
import gzip

def compress_to_gzip_bytes(data: str, encoding: str = "utf-8") -> bytes:
    """Compress a string to gzip-compressed bytes in memory."""
    return gzip.compress(data.encode(encoding))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    original = "Hello, world! " * 10
    compressed = compress_to_gzip_bytes(original)
    pr…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Convert CSV Column Types While Reading in Python

Read a CSV file and automatically convert column values to int, float, str, or bool based on type suffixes in the header names.

csv type-conversion file-io
Python
import csv
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Any

def read_csv_with_types(filepath: str) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
    """Read CSV and convert column types based on header suffixes."""
    converters = {
        "int": int,
        "float": float,
        "str": str,
        "bool": lambda v: v.strip().lower(…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Extract IP Address Counts from Access Logs in Python

Read a web server access log, count occurrences of each IP address using regex and Counter, and print the ranked results.

regex access log counter
Python
import re
from collections import Counter
from pathlib import Path

def extract_ip_counts(log_file_path):
    ip_pattern = r'^(\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3})'
    ip_counter = Counter()
    
    with open(log_file_path, 'r') as file:
        for line in file:
            match = re.match(ip_pattern, line)
       …
17 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to List Tar Archive Contents in Python

Open a tar archive with the stdlib tarfile module and print each entry's type, size, and name.

tarfile archive filesystem
Python
import tarfile
from pathlib import Path

def list_tar_contents(archive_path):
    """List all entries in a tar archive."""
    entries = []
    with tarfile.open(archive_path, "r") as tar:
        for member in tar.getmembers():
            entry_type = "dir" if member.isdir() else "file"
            entries.append(f"…
12 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Memory Map Large Files Read-Only in Python

This code demonstrates reading only the tail of a large file using a read-only memory map (mmap) to avoid loading the entire file into memory.

mmap file-io memory-efficient
Python
import mmap
import os

def read_tail_with_mmap(filepath, bytes_from_end=64):
    """Read the last bytes of a large file using a read-only mmap."""
    file_size = os.path.getsize(filepath)
    start = max(0, file_size - bytes_from_end)

    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        with mmap.mmap(f.fileno(), length=0, a…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Merge Environment-Specific Config JSON in Python

Loads a base JSON config and overlays environment-specific overrides, merging the two dictionaries into one final config.

json config pathlib
Python
import json
import pathlib


def load_config(base_path: pathlib.Path, env: str) -> dict:
    base_config = json.loads(base_path.read_text())
    env_path = base_path.with_name(f"config.{env}.json")
    if env_path.exists():
        env_config = json.loads(env_path.read_text())
        return {**base_config, **env_conf…
14 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Merge Sorted Chunk Files in Python

Merge multiple sorted text files into one sorted output file using a heap for efficient k-way merging.

heapq merge-sort external-sort
Python
import heapq


def merge_sorted_chunks(chunks, output_path):
    """Merge multiple sorted iterables into single sorted output file."""
    with open(output_path, "w") as out_f:
        # Open all chunk files
        handles = [open(chunk, "r") for chunk in chunks]
        try:
            # Heap of (value, index) tupl…
14 0 Open
Files & data medium

How to Parse Apache Log Files in Python

Parse Apache common log format lines into structured dictionaries using Python's standard library.

apache regex log-parsing
Python
import re
from pathlib import Path

def parse_apache_line(line):
    pattern = r'^(\S+) (\S+) (\S+) \[([^\]]+)\] "(\S+) (\S+) (\S+)" (\d{3}) (\S+)'
    match = re.match(pattern, line)
    if not match:
        return None
    ip, ident, user, timestamp, method, path, protocol, status, size = match.groups()
    return …
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Parse NDJSON Lines into a List in Python

Reads a JSON-lines (NDJSON) file line by line and converts each non-empty line into a Python object, returning a list.

json ndjson file-io
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path


def parse_ndjson(file_path: str) -> list:
    data = []
    with Path(file_path).open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        for line in f:
            line = line.strip()
            if line:
                data.append(json.loads(line))
    return data


if __name__ == "__main__"…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Parse Path Components with pathlib Path in Python

Parse a file path into parent directory, filename, stem, suffix, and parts using the standard library pathlib module.

pathlib filesystem file-paths
Python
from pathlib import Path

if __name__ == "__main__":
    p = Path("data/reports/2024/final.txt")
    print(f"Path: {p}")
    print(f"Parent: {p.parent}")
    print(f"Name: {p.name}")
    print(f"Stem: {p.stem}")
    print(f"Suffix: {p.suffix}")
    print(f"Parts: {p.parts}")
    print(f"Anchor: {p.anchor}")
    print(…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Parse XML Attributes into a Flat Dictionary in Python

Parses XML elements and attributes using ElementTree, building a flat dictionary keyed by element attributes.

xml elementtree parsing
Python
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

xml_data = """<root>
    <book id="1" category="fiction" price="9.99">
        <title>The Catcher</title>
    </book>
    <book id="2" category="nonfiction" price="12.50">
        <title>Deep Learning</title>
    </book>
</root>"""

def parse_xml_attributes(xml_string):
    root = E…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Read a JSON File into a Dictionary in Python

Load a JSON file into a Python dictionary using the json.load() function with proper file handling and UTF-8 encoding.

json file-io dictionary
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path

def read_json_file(filepath: str) -> dict:
    """Read a JSON file and return its contents as a dictionary."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        data = json.load(f)
    return data

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Create a sample JS…
13 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.