Reference library

Python Code Samples

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

32 matches
Files & data medium

How to Load Pickle Files Safely in Python

This code demonstrates how to load pickle files safely in Python by using a restricted unpickler that only allows specific, trusted classes, preventing arbitrary code execution from untrusted pickles.

pickle security serialization
Python
import pickle

# Default pickle.load is unsafe: it executes arbitrary code when unpickling.
class Unsafe:
    def __reduce__(self):
        return (eval, ("open('/tmp/pickle_demo.txt', 'w').write('pwned')",))

# Create a malicious payload (simulating untrusted source)
malicious_data = pickle.dumps(Unsafe())

# Safe ap…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Load and Save JSON Files in Python

Load and save JSON files with pretty formatting using Python's standard library json module and pathlib.

json files pathlib
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path


def load_json(filepath: str) -> dict:
    """Load JSON data from a file."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        return json.load(f)


def save_json(filepath: str, data: dict) -> None:
    """Save data to a JSON file with pretty format…
11 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Serialize a Python Object to Pickle Bytes in Memory

Serialize a Python object to pickle bytes in memory with pickle.dumps, then deserialize it back with pickle.loads and verify the roundtrip.

pickle serialization bytes
Python
import pickle

class Person:
    def __init__(self, name, age, skills):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age
        self.skills = skills

def main():
    person = Person("Alice", 30, ["Python", "SQL", "Docker"])
    
    # Serialize to bytes in memory
    pickle_bytes = pickle.dumps(person)
    
    print(…
15 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Write Simple XML Documents with ElementTree in Python

Create well-structured XML documents in memory using Python's built-in ElementTree module, complete with nested elements, attributes, and text content.

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

def create_xml_document():
    # Create root element
    root = ET.Element("catalog")
    
    # Create a book element with attributes and children
    book1 = ET.SubElement(root, "book", id="bk101")
    ET.SubElement(book1, "author").text = "Gambardella, Matthew"
    ET.SubElement(…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

How to Write a Dict to a Pretty JSON File with Indent in Python

Serializes a Python dictionary to a readable JSON file using json.dump with indentation and sorted keys, then prints the file contents to stdout.

json files serialization
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path

data = {
    "name": "Python",
    "version": 3.12,
    "features": ["simple", "readable", "powerful"],
    "nested": {"creator": "Guido van Rossum", "year": 1991}
}

output_path = Path("output.json")

with output_path.open("w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    json.dump(data, f, inden…
13 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

How to Pickle a Python Dict and Load It Back

Save a dictionary to a binary file with pickle.dump() and reload it with pickle.load(), showing the round trip and type preservation.

pickle serialization dict
Python
import pickle

data = {"name": "Alice", "scores": [87, 92, 95], "active": True}

print("Original dict:", data)

with open("safe_demo.pkl", "wb") as f:
    pickle.dump(data, f)

with open("safe_demo.pkl", "rb") as f:
    loaded = pickle.load(f)

print("Loaded dict:", loaded)
print("Type:", type(loaded).__name__)
print(…
15 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

How to Serialize a Dictionary to a Query String in Python

Convert a Python dictionary into a URL-encoded query string using the standard library's urllib.parse.urlencode function.

urllib query-string urlencode
Python
import urllib.parse

def dict_to_query_string(params):
    """Serialize a dictionary to a URL query string."""
    return urllib.parse.urlencode(params)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    data = {
        "name": "Alice Johnson",
        "age": 30,
        "city": "New York",
        "interests": ["coding", "hiking"]
   …
13 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Serialize Python dict to JSON with custom default for datetime

Convert a Python dict containing datetime and set objects into JSON by providing a custom default serializer.

json datetime serialization
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime

def custom_serializer(obj):
    if isinstance(obj, datetime):
        return obj.isoformat()
    if isinstance(obj, set):
        return list(obj)
    return str(obj)

data = {
    "name": "Alice",
    "created_at": datetime(2024, 3, 15, 10, 30, 45),
    "tags": {"python", "j…
14 0 Open
OOP & classes medium

How to Use __getstate__ and __setstate__ for Pickle in Python

Customize Python object serialization with the pickle __getstate__ and __setstate__ hooks to control exactly what data is stored and how it is restored.

pickle serialization getstate
Python
import pickle

class Temperature:
    def __init__(self, celsius):
        self.celsius = celsius

    def __getstate__(self):
        """Customize what gets pickled."""
        state = self.__dict__.copy()
        # Convert to Fahrenheit for storage (simulate transformation)
        state['fahrenheit'] = (self.celsiu…
12 0 Open
AI & LLM integration patterns easy

How to Convert Data to JSON and Back in Python

Convert a Python dict into a JSON string with indentation, then parse it back into a dict, demonstrating a common round-trip conversion for beginners.

json serialization conversion
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime

def convert_data(data):
    """Convert a dict into a JSON string and back to dict."""
    json_str = json.dumps(data, indent=2)
    parsed = json.loads(json_str)
    return json_str, parsed

def main():
    sample_data = {
        "user": "alice",
        "message": "hello",
…
11 0 Open
AI & LLM integration patterns easy

How to Serialize Chat Messages to a JSON File in Python

Writes a list of chat message dicts to a JSON file with metadata like export time and message count.

json serialization chat
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

def serialize_messages(messages, output_path):
    data = {
        "exported_at": datetime.now().isoformat(),
        "count": len(messages),
        "messages": messages
    }
    Path(output_path).write_text(
        json.dumps(data, indent=2, ensu…
14 0 Open
AI & LLM integration patterns easy

Serialize and Format Data for LLM Prompts in Python

Use dataclasses and the json module to convert Python objects to JSON strings, parse them back, and format structured data into prompt-friendly text for LLM calls.

dataclasses json llm
Python
import json
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict


@dataclass
class Recipe:
    """Simple data model to represent a recipe."""
    name: str
    cuisine: str
    prep_minutes: int


def to_json(recipe: Recipe) -> str:
    """Serialize a Recipe to a JSON string."""
    return json.dumps(asdict(recipe), indent=2)

…
13 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing easy

How to Register a Dataset Schema as JSON in Python

Define a catalog of dataset schemas and serialize them to JSON with the standard library json module.

json schema catalog
Python
import json

catalog = {
    "name": "sample_catalog",
    "version": "1.0",
    "datasets": [
        {
            "id": "users",
            "type": "table",
            "fields": [
                {"name": "id", "type": "integer", "key": True},
                {"name": "email", "type": "string", "nullable": False}…
12 0 Open
Cloud + Python easy

How to Convert Python Dict to JSON and Back

Convert Python dictionaries to JSON text and back with a simple helper that serializes and deserializes data structures.

json dict serialization
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime, timezone


def convert_data(data, source_format=None, target_format="json"):
    """
    Convert Python data structures to txt/json and back.
    For beginners: shows how to serialize/deserialize.
    """
    if source_format == "json" and target_format == "dict":
        ret…
13 0 Open
Modern tooling easy

How to Export a Conda Environment YAML File in Python

Generate a mock conda environment YAML export with a reusable Python function and the PyYAML library.

conda yaml environment
Python
import yaml


def conda_env_mock(name="demo_env", channels=None, packages=None):
    channels = channels or ["defaults"]
    packages = packages or [
        "python=3.11",
        "pip",
        "numpy=1.24.3",
        "pandas=2.0.3",
    ]
    env_dict = {
        "name": name,
        "channels": channels,
        …
16 0 Open
API design & gRPC easy

Convert Protobuf to JSON and Dict in Python

Provides static helper methods to convert between protobuf messages, JSON strings, and Python dictionaries using the google.protobuf library.

protobuf json grpc
Python
from google.protobuf.json_format import MessageToJson, Parse
import json


class DataConverter:
    """Helper class to convert between protobuf messages and common formats."""

    @staticmethod
    def to_json(message, indent=2):
        """Convert a protobuf message to JSON string."""
        return MessageToJson(me…
16 0 Open
API design & gRPC easy

Create a Data Helper in Python for gRPC-style APIs

This code builds a simple DataHelper class that mimics gRPC request/response handling with in-memory storage, JSON serialization, and basic CRUD operations for beginners.

dataclasses grpc api-design
Python
import json
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
from typing import Dict, Any


@dataclass
class User:
    user_id: int
    name: str
    email: str


class DataHelper:
    """Simple helper to demonstrate gRPC-like data handling for beginners."""

    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self._users: Dict[int, Use…
14 0 Open
API design & gRPC easy

Format data in Python using dataclasses like gRPC messages

Convert Python dataclasses to and from dicts and format them gRPC-style for clean data handling.

dataclasses grpc serialization
Python
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional


@dataclass
class ProductInfo:
    """Data class representing a gRPC-style product message."""

    name: str
    price: float
    tags: List[str]
    description: Optional[str] = None

    def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        """C…
14 0 Open
API design & gRPC easy

How to Serialize a Dataclass to JSON in Python

Serialize a Python dataclass instance to JSON using asdict and json.dumps for API responses or mocks.

dataclass json serialization
Python
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
import json


@dataclass
class UserResponse:
    id: int
    name: str
    email: str
    active: bool = True


if __name__ == "__main__":
    response = UserResponse(id=42, name="Ada Lovelace", email="ada@example.com")
    print(json.dumps(asdict(response), indent=2))
12 0 Open
Streaming & messaging easy

Dead Letter Queue Failed Messages List Mock in Python

Implements a simple in-memory dead letter queue to collect, list, and retry failed messages, with JSON serialization for inspection in streaming pipelines.

dead-letter-queue messaging retry
Python
import json
from collections import deque


class Message:
    def __init__(self, message_id, payload, attempts=0):
        self.message_id = message_id
        self.payload = payload
        self.attempts = attempts

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"Message(id={self.message_id}, attempts={self.attempts})"


c…
15 0 Open
Streaming & messaging medium

How to Encode and Decode Avro Data in Python (Roundtrip)

Serialize a Python dict to Avro binary bytes and decode it back using the fastavro-compatible avro library.

avro serialization encode
Python
import io
import json
from avro.schema import parse
from avro.io import DatumWriter, DatumReader, BinaryEncoder, BinaryDecoder

def avro_roundtrip(schema_json, data):
    schema = parse(json.dumps(schema_json))
    bytes_writer = io.BytesIO()
    encoder = BinaryEncoder(bytes_writer)
    writer = DatumWriter(schema)
 …
13 0 Open
Streaming & messaging easy

How to Serialize and Deserialize JSON Event Payloads in Python

Define an EventPayload class with custom to_json and from_json methods to convert event objects to JSON strings and back, using datetime parsing.

json serialization datetime
Python
import json
from datetime import datetime


class EventPayload:
    def __init__(self, event_id, event_type, timestamp, data):
        self.event_id = event_id
        self.event_type = event_type
        self.timestamp = timestamp
        self.data = data

    def to_json(self):
        return json.dumps({
          …
11 0 Open
Streaming & messaging hard

Mock Protobuf Binary Encoding in Python

Demonstrates a minimal protobuf-like binary encoding and decoding of an event dataclass using varints and length-delimited fields in pure Python.

protobuf binary-encoding varint
Python
import struct
from dataclasses import dataclass


@dataclass
class Event:
    id: int
    user_id: int
    action: str

    def encode(self) -> bytes:
        # Mock protobuf-like binary encoding using varint and length-delimited fields
        buf = bytearray()
        # field 1: varint id (tag = (1 << 3) | 0 = 8)
  …
11 0 Open
Caching & Redis medium

How to Cache Data in Redis with Python

Build a simple Redis cache wrapper that stores and retrieves JSON data with automatic TTL and serialization.

redis cache json
Python
import redis
import json
import time


class Cache:
    def __init__(self, host="localhost", port=6379, db=0, default_ttl=60):
        self.client = redis.Redis(host=host, port=port, db=db)
        self.default_ttl = default_ttl

    def get(self, key):
        value = self.client.get(key)
        if value is None:
  …
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.