Python Code
Samples
Copy-ready Python snippets by topic and difficulty — short, focused, and runnable in the browser editor.
Log to stderr with Python logging basicConfig
Configure Python's logging module to send all log messages to standard error (stderr) instead of the default stderr, with a readable timestamped format.
import logging
def main():
logging.basicConfig(
level=logging.DEBUG,
format="%(asctime)s — %(name)s — %(levelname)s — %(message)s",
stream=__import__("sys").stderr,
)
logger = logging.getLogger("example")
logger.debug("Debug message")
logger.info("Info message")
logger.…How to Build a Dated Backup Filename with Timestamp in Python
Generate unique backup filenames with a timestamp using Python's datetime module and f-strings.
from datetime import datetime
def build_backup_filename(base_name: str, extension: str = "bak") -> str:
"""Generate a dated backup filename with timestamp."""
timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
return f"{base_name}_{timestamp}.{extension}"
if __name__ == "__main__":
backup_file = bu…How to Copy a File with shutil.copy2 in Python
Copy a file while preserving metadata like timestamps and permissions using Python's shutil.copy2 and pathlib.
import shutil
from pathlib import Path
source = Path("sample.txt")
destination = Path("sample_copy.txt")
source.write_text("Hello, PythonSkillset!")
if __name__ == "__main__":
shutil.copy2(source, destination)
copied = destination.read_text()
print(f"Copied content: {copied}")
print(f"Source exists:…How to Build a TTL Cache Dict in Python
Create a dictionary subclass that automatically expires keys after a fixed time-to-live using timestamps.
import time
class TTLDict(dict):
def __init__(self, ttl, *args, **kwargs):
self.ttl = ttl
self._expires = {}
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def __setitem__(self, key, value):
super().__setitem__(key, value)
self._expires[key] = time.time() + self.ttl
def __geti…How to Log Prompts and Completions as JSONL Audit Files in Python
Read a JSONL file of LLM prompt–completion pairs, compute totals and averages, then write an audit summary with timestamps.
import json
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
def audit_jsonl(filepath):
logs = []
with open(filepath, encoding="utf-8") as f:
for line in f:
line = line.strip()
if not line:
continue
entry = json.loads(line)
logs.ap…Build a Network Ping Monitor in Python
A Python script that continuously pings a remote host using subprocess and reports connectivity status with timestamps and latency.
import subprocess
import time
def ping_host(host, count=4):
"""Ping a host and return the results."""
try:
# Platform-independent ping command
cmd = ["ping", "-c", str(count), host]
result = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10)
return result.stdout, r…Generate Random Fake User Data for Testing in Python
This code generates a list of fake user dictionaries with random names, emails, ages, and timestamps using the Python standard library for testing purposes.
import json
import random
import string
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def generate_user_data(num_users=1):
first_names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie", "Diana", "Eve"]
last_names = ["Smith", "Johnson", "Brown", "Taylor", "Wilson"]
domains = ["example.com", "test.org", "demo.net"]
users = …How to Backup an SQLite Database with a Timestamp in Python
Backs up an SQLite database file to a timestamped copy using the sqlite3 backup API.
import sqlite3
import shutil
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
def backup_database(db_path: str, backup_dir: str = "backups") -> Path:
db = Path(db_path)
backup_folder = Path(backup_dir)
backup_folder.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
…Monitor Website Uptime with Python
Periodically check if a website is reachable and its HTTP status is 200, logging the status with timestamps.
import requests
import time
def check_website(url):
try:
response = requests.get(url, timeout=5)
if response.status_code == 200:
return True
else:
return False
except requests.ConnectionError:
return False
except requests.Timeout:
return Fals…Track Internet Connectivity and Downtime Automatically in Python
Monitors internet connectivity by pinging a remote host and logs any downtime events with timestamps and duration.
import time
import subprocess
from datetime import datetime
def check_internet(host="8.8.8.8", timeout=3):
"""Returns True if internet is reachable via ping."""
try:
subprocess.run(
["ping", "-c", "1", "-W", str(timeout), host],
capture_output=True,
timeout=timeout …Generate a Mock CDC Changelog in Python
Simulate a CDC changelog with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations, timestamps, and record snapshots for testing data pipelines.
import json
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def generate_mock_changelog(records, operations=("INSERT", "UPDATE", "DELETE")):
"""Simulate a CDC changelog from a list of record snapshots."""
base_time = datetime(2025, 1, 1, 8, 0, 0)
changelog = []
for idx, record in enumerate(records):
…Group Python Events into Sessions with a Gap Timeout
Groups timestamped events into sessions, starting a new session when the time gap exceeds a specified timeout.
from itertools import groupby
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def session_window_group(events, gap_seconds=300):
"""Group events into sessions where gap > gap_seconds starts a new session."""
if not events:
return []
events = sorted(events, key=lambda x: x[0])
sessions = []
c…How to Count Events by Minute with a Tumbling Window in Python
Group timestamps into fixed 60-second tumbling windows and count events per bucket using a dict.
from collections import defaultdict
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def tumbling_window_count(events, window_seconds=60):
buckets = defaultdict(int)
for event in events:
ts = datetime.fromisoformat(event["timestamp"])
bucket_start = ts - timedelta(seconds=ts.second % window_seconds,
…How to Implement Incremental Load with Watermark by updated_at in Python
Load only new or changed rows into SQLite by comparing an updated_at timestamp against a stored watermark, returning counts and the new watermark.
import sqlite3
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def watermark_incremental_load(db_path, table_name, last_watermark, source_data):
"""Load only rows with updated_at greater than the last watermark."""
conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
cursor = conn.cursor()
# Create table if it doesn't exist
…How to List Failed Records in a Dead Letter Queue Mock in Python
A mock Dead Letter Queue stores failed processing records with error details and timestamps, lists them, and exports to JSON.
import json
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import random
class DeadLetterQueue:
def __init__(self):
self.failed_records = []
def add_failed_record(self, record_id, payload, error_message):
self.failed_records.append({
"record_id": record_id,
"payload": paylo…How to route late-arriving data to a side output in Python
Separate late-arriving events from a streaming data batch into a dead-letter side output list using a timestamp threshold.
from collections import defaultdict
def late_arriving_side_output(events, late_threshold_ts):
"""
Mock a streaming pipeline that separates late-arriving data events
into a side output list (e.g., for dead-letter analysis).
events: list of (timestamp, data) tuples, timestamps as ints.
late_thresho…Normalize Timestamps to UTC DateTime in Python
Convert timestamps in multiple formats to UTC-aware datetime objects using datetime.strptime and astimezone.
from datetime import datetime, timezone
raw_timestamps = [
"2024-01-15 14:30:00+02:00",
"17/05/2024 09:15:00 -0500",
"2024-03-01T22:45:00Z",
"2024-06-20 08:00:00+09:30"
]
def parse_and_convert(ts: str) -> datetime:
normalized_ts = ts.strip().replace("Z", "+00:00")
formats = [
"%Y-%m-%…Rollback dataset to previous snapshot pointer in Python
A SnapshotManager class stores timestamped data snapshots and rolls back to the most recent snapshot at or before a target time.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
class SnapshotManager:
def __init__(self):
self.snapshots = {} # timestamp -> data
self.current_pointer = None
def create_snapshot(self, data):
timestamp = datetime.now()
self.snapshots[timestamp] = data
self.current_pointer =…How to Mirror a Bare Git Repository Backup in Python
Run a git clone --bare subprocess to create a timestamped bare-repo backup folder with error handling.
import subprocess
import shlex
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
def mirror_bare_repo(source_url: str, backup_dir: str) -> str:
"""Mirror a bare git repository to a timestamped backup folder."""
backup_path = Path(backup_dir)
backup_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
timest…Generate Mock CloudFormation Stack Events in Python
Generate a list of mock AWS CloudFormation stack events with random resources, statuses, and timestamps, and print them as JSON.
import json
import random
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def generate_mock_stack_events(stack_name="MyTestStack", num_events=10):
"""Generate a list of mock CloudFormation stack events."""
resources = [
("AWS::S3::Bucket", "MyBucket"),
("AWS::EC2::Instance", "MyInstance"),
("…How to Create a JSON Data Helper in Python
A beginner-friendly DataHelper class that safely reads and writes JSON files with timestamps to a local data directory.
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path
import json
class DataHelper:
"""Simple helper for reading/writing JSON files safely."""
def __init__(self, base_dir="data"):
self.base_dir = Path(base_dir)
self.base_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
def save(self, filename, data):
…Mock GCP Secret Manager access version in Python
A minimal mock of GCP Secret Manager that stores secret versions, retrieves payloads by version, and logs access timestamps.
import json
import time
from datetime import datetime, timezone
class MockSecretManager:
"""Minimal mock of GCP Secret Manager access/version behavior."""
def __init__(self):
self._secrets = {}
self._access_log = []
def create_secret(self, secret_id: str, payload: str) -> dict:
…How to Generate a Mock Rollbar Error Report in Python
Create a realistic fake Rollbar error report with random timestamps, levels, messages, and counts for testing and demos.
import json
import random
import time
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def mock_rollbar_report(n_errors=5):
messages = [
"TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'",
"KeyError: 'user_id'",
"ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'abc'",
"At…How to freeze time in Python tests with freezegun
Use the freezegun decorator to freeze datetime.now() at a fixed timestamp so tests that depend on current time run deterministically.
from datetime import datetime
from freezegun import freeze_time
@freeze_time("2024-01-15 12:30:00")
def test_frozen_time():
now = datetime.now()
return now
if __name__ == "__main__":
result = test_frozen_time()
print(result)Browse by section
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
- Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
- Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
- 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.