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Python Code Samples

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

17 matches
Functions & basics easy

Profile Python functions with cProfile

Profile a Python program with cProfile, capture the stats in memory, and print a sorted performance report.

cprofile performance profiling
Python
import cProfile
import pstats
import io


def slow_function():
    total = 0
    for i in range(100000):
        total += i ** 2
    return total


def medium_function():
    return sum(range(10000))


def fast_function():
    return sum(range(100))


def main():
    result1 = slow_function()
    result2 = medium_func…
10 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

How to Inspect Local Variables in an except Block in Python

Capture and print local variables at the moment an exception occurs using locals() inside an except block.

debugging exception-handling locals
Python
def risky_operation(value):
    try:
        result = 10 / value
        return result
    except ZeroDivisionError as e:
        local_vars = dict(locals())
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        print("Local variables at exception:")
        for key, val in local_vars.items():
            print(f"  {key} = {val}")
   …
12 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

How to Log Exceptions with traceback.format_exc in Python

Capture and log a full traceback string when an exception occurs using Python's traceback.format_exc() and logging module.

traceback logging exception
Python
import traceback
import logging

def risky_operation(value):
    return 10 / value

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR, format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')

def main():
    try:
        result = risky_operation(0)
        print(f"Result: {result}")
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        error_msg =…
13 0 Open
Comprehensions & generators medium

How to Send Values into a Python Generator Coroutine

Use the .send() method to pass values into a running generator coroutine and capture them.

generators coroutines yield
Python
def coroutine():
    received = []
    while True:
        value = yield
        received.append(value)
        print(f"Coroutine received: {value}")
        if value == "stop":
            break
    return received

if __name__ == "__main__":
    gen = coroutine()
    next(gen)  # Prime the generator
    gen.send("he…
12 0 Open
Git + Python easy

How to Run Git Commands from Python with subprocess

This helper runs `git status --short` and `git log --oneline` from Python, captures their output, and returns readable strings with error handling for non-repo directories.

git subprocess automation
Python
import subprocess


def git_status():
    """Return a short, human-readable git status."""
    try:
        output = subprocess.run(
            ["git", "status", "--short"],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
            check=True,
        ).stdout.strip()
        return output if output else "W…
13 0 Open
Modern tooling medium

How to Mock CLI Output in Typer with unittest.mock

Mock and capture Typer CLI output using unittest.mock.patch and io.StringIO for testing command-line applications.

typer cli testing
Python
import typer
from unittest.mock import patch
import io

app = typer.Typer()

@app.command()
def greet(name: str, age: int = 18, uppercase: bool = False):
    """Greet a person with optional formatting."""
    message = f"Hello {name}, age {age}"
    if uppercase:
        message = message.upper()
    typer.echo(messag…
11 0 Open
Modern tooling easy

How to Mock OpenTelemetry Tracer Setup in Python

Set up a mock OpenTelemetry tracer with an in-memory span exporter to capture spans for testing and debugging.

opentelemetry testing tracing
Python
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import SimpleSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.in_memory_span_exporter import InMemorySpanExporter


def setup_tracer():
    provider = TracerProvider()
    exporter = InMemorySpanExpo…
12 0 Open
Modern tooling medium

Mocking loguru for Structured Logging in Python

Simulate loguru's structured logging with a custom mock that captures JSON-formatted log entries with bound context.

loguru logging mock
Python
import json
import sys
from io import StringIO
from unittest.mock import patch


def mock_loguru():
    # Simulate a structured logger with context binding
    class StructuredLogger:
        def __init__(self):
            self.context = {}

        def bind(self, **kwargs):
            logger = StructuredLogger()
  …
11 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

Capture stdout and stderr with pytest capsys

Use pytest's capsys fixture to capture and assert on standard output and error streams in your tests.

pytest testing capture
Python
import pytest

# Function under test
def greet(name):
    print(f"Hello, {name}!")
    print(f"Error: {name} not found", file=sys.stderr)

def test_captures_stdout_and_stderr(capsys):
    greet("Alice")
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    
    assert "Hello, Alice!" in captured.out
    assert "Error: Alice not foun…
12 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

Characterization Test for Legacy Python Code

Capture the exact output of a legacy Python function for known inputs, creating a characterization test that documents current behavior before refactoring.

characterization-testing legacy-code testing
Python
def legacy_behavior(value):
    """Legacy function that returns a tuple with unconventional types."""
    if value == "special":
        return None, "legacy-special"
    elif value > 100:
        return value, "large"
    elif value > 0:
        return value * 2, "positive-doubled"
    elif value == 0:
     …
14 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

How to Capture Logging Records with pytest caplog in Python

Capture and assert on logging records in pytest using the built-in caplog fixture.

pytest logging testing
Python
import logging
import pytest

def divide(a, b):
    """Divide two numbers and log an error if b is zero."""
    if b == 0:
        logging.error("Division by zero attempted")
        return None
    logging.info(f"Dividing {a} by {b}")
    return a / b

def test_divide_logs_error(caplog):
    with caplog.at_level(logg…
13 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

How to Snapshot Test JSON with Mock in Python

Use pytest-snapshot to capture the exact output of a JSON-loading function, with and without mocking json.loads, so future changes are automatically detected.

pytest snapshot mock
Python
import json
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
import pytest


def load_config(data):
    config = json.loads(data)
    return {"host": config["host"], "port": config["port"]}


def test_load_config_snapshot(snapshot):
    mock_data = json.dumps({"host": "localhost", "port": 8080, "extra": "ignored"})
    result = …
13 0 Open
System design patterns easy

How to Take Periodic Snapshots of Aggregate State in Python

Build a Python class that accumulates values and periodically captures immutable snapshots of total, count, and average for later analysis.

aggregation snapshots state-management
Python
import time
import random
from collections import defaultdict


class SnapshotAggregator:
    def __init__(self):
        self.total = 0
        self.count = 0
        self.history = []

    def add(self, value):
        self.total += value
        self.count += 1

    def snapshot(self):
        avg = self.total / se…
11 0 Open
Streaming & messaging easy

How to Build a Mock Change Data Capture Event Stream in Python

Generate a deterministic list of mock CDC events with event IDs, stream positions, payloads, and timestamps for testing streaming pipelines.

cdc mock event-stream
Python
from itertools import count
from random import choice, randint, seed
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

seed(42)  # Make output deterministic
event_types = ["INSERT", "UPDATE", "DELETE"]
table_names = ["users", "orders", "products", "payments"]
counter = count(1)

def mock_cdc_event(stream_index: int) -> dict:
…
12 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Create a StatsD UDP Metric Mock Server in Python

Run a lightweight mock UDP server that captures StatsD metrics over a short window for local testing.

statsd udp sockets
Python
import socket
import threading
import time


def start_mock_statsd_server(host="127.0.0.1", port=8125, timeout=3):
    """Run a mock StatsD UDP server that captures metrics for a short window."""
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
    sock.bind((host, port))
    sock.settimeout(timeout)
    me…
13 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

How to use foreachBatch with a mock sink in PySpark

Demonstrates using Spark Structured Streaming's foreachBatch sink to capture and verify streaming batches by writing them into a custom mock sink object.

pyspark structured-streaming foreachbatch
Python
from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
from pyspark.sql.functions import col, lit

class MockSink:
    def __init__(self):
        self.batches = []
    
    def write_batch(self, batch_df, batch_id):
        # Collect batch data as list of dicts for verification
        records = batch_df.collect()
        self.batches…
13 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Mock HTTP Responses to Verify HSTS Headers in Python

This code demonstrates how to use unittest.mock to intercept and capture HTTP response headers, specifically the Strict-Transport-Security header, from a mocked HTTPServer handler for security validation.

hsts mock security
Python
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from unittest.mock import patch

class StrictTransportMock(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header("Strict-Transport-Security", "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains")
        self.end_headers()
  …
12 0 Open

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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.