Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
Automatically Clean Temporary Files from Applications Using Python
A Python script that safely deletes temporary files from common application temp directories across Windows, Linux, and macOS, tracking cleaned count and disk space.
import os
import shutil
import tempfile
import platform
def clean_application_temp_files():
"""Delete common temporary file locations safely."""
system = platform.system()
temp_dirs = []
if system == "Windows":
temp_dirs.extend([
os.path.join(os.getenv("LOCALAPPDATA"), "Temp"),
…Automatically Generate Charts from CSV Files with One Command
Read a CSV file with headers, extract the first two numeric columns, and save a matplotlib line chart as a PNG image.
import csv
import sys
from pathlib import Path
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
def generate_chart(csv_path: str) -> None:
"""Read a CSV file with headers and plot the first two numeric columns."""
data = []
with open(csv_path, 'r', newline='') as f:
reader = csv.reader(f)
headers = next(re…Benchmark File Read and Write Speed in Python
Measures file write and read throughput in MB/s by writing and reading a temporary file of a given size.
import os
import time
import tempfile
def benchmark_write(file_path, size_mb=100):
data = b'x' * (1024 * 1024) # 1 MB block
start = time.perf_counter()
with open(file_path, 'wb') as f:
for _ in range(size_mb):
f.write(data)
elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
return size_mb …Build a Python Utility That Verifies Backup Integrity Automatically
Automatically compute and verify SHA-256 checksums of backup files using a JSON manifest to detect missing or corrupted data.
import hashlib
import os
import json
def compute_checksum(filepath, algorithm='sha256'):
"""Compute checksum for the given file."""
hash_func = hashlib.new(algorithm)
with open(filepath, 'rb') as f:
for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(4096), b''):
hash_func.update(chunk)
return hash_f…Build a Terminal Dashboard That Displays Real-Time System Performance in Python
A Python script that reads Linux system files to display a real-time terminal dashboard with CPU usage, memory usage, and CPU temperature.
import os, time, sys
from collections import deque
def get_cpu_temp():
try:
with open("/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp") as f:
return round(int(f.read().strip()) / 1000, 1)
except:
return None
def get_mem_usage():
with open("/proc/meminfo") as f:
lines = f.readli…Build an RSS feed from markdown blog posts in Python
Scans a folder of markdown files, extracts titles, dates, and excerpts, and generates a valid RSS 2.0 XML feed.
import re
from pathlib import Path
from xml.etree.ElementTree import Element, SubElement, tostring
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from xml.dom import minidom
def build_rss(blog_dir, site_url="https://example.com"):
feed = Element("rss", version="2.0")
channel = SubElement(feed, "channel")
SubElem…Convert DOCX to Text by Unzipping XML in Python
Extract plain text from a .docx file by unzipping the container and parsing word/document.xml with regex, using only Python's standard library.
import zipfile
import re
from pathlib import Path
def docx_to_text_unzip_xml(docx_path: str) -> str:
"""Extract plain text from a .docx file by unzipping and parsing document.xml."""
docx_path = Path(docx_path)
if not docx_path.exists():
raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {docx_path}")
…Create a Local Search Engine to Instantly Find Files on Your Computer in Python
Build a local file search engine in Python that indexes files by name, extension, and glob pattern for instant retrieval.
import os
import sys
import time
from pathlib import Path
import fnmatch
class LocalSearchEngine:
def __init__(self, root_directory="."):
self.root_directory = Path(root_directory)
self.file_index = {}
def build_index(self):
"""Build a complete index of files in the root direc…Detect Circular Imports Across Python Projects Automatically
This script walks through all .py files in a directory, builds an import graph, and uses depth-first search to find cycles—printing each circular dependency chain.
import ast
import sys
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict, deque
def find_imports(filepath):
"""Return set of module names imported by a Python file."""
imports = set()
try:
with open(filepath) as f:
tree = ast.parse(f.read())
except (SyntaxError, UnicodeDe…Extract Attachments from mbox Mailbox Files in Python
Extract file attachments from an mbox mailbox format using Python's standard library email and mailbox modules.
import email
import mailbox
from email.policy import default
from pathlib import Path
def extract_attachments(mbox_path, output_dir):
output_dir = Path(output_dir)
output_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
mbox = mailbox.mbox(mbox_path)
for msg in mbox:
if msg.is_multipart():
for part i…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.
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…Find Orphan Files Not Referenced Anywhere in Python
Scan a project directory for files whose names never appear in the content of other files, identifying potentially unused resources.
import os
from pathlib import Path
import re
def find_orphan_files(root_dir: str, extensions: set = None, ignore_patterns: list = None):
"""Find files not referenced by any other file in the project."""
if extensions is None:
extensions = {'.txt', '.md', '.py', '.html', '.css', '.js', '.json', '.yaml'…Find Sensitive Information in Log Files with Python
Scan log files for emails, IP addresses, API keys, and passwords using regular expressions in Python.
import re
import os
from pathlib import Path
def find_sensitive_info(log_path):
"""Scans log files for patterns like emails, IPs, API keys, and passwords."""
patterns = {
'Email': r'[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}',
'IP Address': r'\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b',
'API Key'…Find Unused Python Packages Automatically
Scan a Python project's source files for imports and list installed packages not imported anywhere.
import pkg_resources
import ast
import os
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def find_imports_in_project(project_dir="."):
imports = set()
for py_file in Path(project_dir).rglob("*.py"):
try:
with open(py_file, "r") as f:
tree = ast.parse(f.read())
for node in …Find and Delete Duplicate Files Using Hashing in Python
Walk a directory tree, compute SHA256 hashes for every file, and delete duplicates that share the same hash.
import hashlib
import os
from pathlib import Path
def file_hash(path, block_size=65536):
"""Return SHA256 hash of file content."""
hasher = hashlib.sha256()
with open(path, 'rb') as f:
while chunk := f.read(block_size):
hasher.update(chunk)
return hasher.hexdigest()
def find_and_d…Find the Largest Files Consuming Disk Space with a Beautiful Terminal Report in Python
Scan a directory recursively and print a formatted terminal report of the largest files, with human-readable sizes.
import os
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def get_largest_files(directory: str, count: int = 10) -> list:
"""
Scan the given directory and return the largest files.
Args:
directory: Path to the directory to scan
count: Number of largest files to return
Returns:
…Generate Beautiful Project Documentation from Python Source Code Automatically
Automatically generate a markdown summary of function docstrings from any Python source file using the AST module.
import ast
import inspect
from pathlib import Path
def extract_docstrings_from_file(filepath):
"""Parse a Python file and collect function docstrings."""
source = Path(filepath).read_text()
tree = ast.parse(source)
docs = []
for node in ast.walk(tree):
if isinstance(node, (ast.FunctionDef…Generate Strong SSH Keys and Save Them Securely with Python
Generate a 4096-bit RSA SSH key pair using Python's cryptography library and save both private and public keys with restricted file permissions.
import os
import stat
from pathlib import Path
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import serialization
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric import rsa
from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
def generate_ssh_keypair(key_path: str = "id_rsa", passphrase: str = None):
"""Generate a 4096-…How to Detect Unused Images in a Project with Python
A Python script that scans a website project folder, identifies all image files, and checks HTML/CSS/JS files to find which images are never referenced.
import os
import re
from pathlib import Path
def find_unused_images(project_path):
image_exts = {'.png', '.jpg', '.jpeg', '.gif', '.svg', '.webp'}
used_images = set()
all_images = set()
# Find all image files
for root, _, files in os.walk(project_path):
for file in files:
…How to Download a GitHub Repository as a ZIP File in Python
Download any public GitHub repository as a ZIP file using the GitHub API and Python's requests and zipfile modules.
import requests
import zipfile
import io
import os
def download_github_repo_as_zip(repo_url, output_path='.'):
"""
Download a GitHub repository as a ZIP file.
Args:
repo_url (str): Full GitHub repository URL (e.g., 'https://github.com/username/repo')
output_path (str): Directory to sa…How to Generate Project Statistics Including Lines of Code and Complexity in Python
Walk through a Python script that scans a project directory for Python files, counts lines of code excluding blanks and comments, and estimates cyclomatic complexity by counting decision keywords.
import os
from pathlib import Path
def count_lines_of_code(filepath):
"""Counts lines of code in a Python file, excluding blank lines and comments."""
try:
with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
lines = f.readlines()
code_lines = [line for line in lines if line.strip() and not line.strip()…How to Generate a Dependency Graph for Python Projects
This script walks through a Python project directory, parses each .py file's imports, and prints a dependency graph showing which modules depend on which other modules.
import os
import ast
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict
def get_imports(filepath):
with open(filepath) as f:
try:
tree = ast.parse(f.read())
except SyntaxError:
return []
imports = []
for node in ast.walk(tree):
if isinstance(node, …How to Monitor Laptop Battery Health Over Time in Python
Log battery percentage, power status, and remaining time every N seconds to a JSON file using psutil for ongoing health monitoring.
import time
import json
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
try:
import psutil
except ImportError:
print("psutil required: pip install psutil")
exit(1)
LOG_FILE = Path("battery_health_log.json")
def monitor_battery(log_interval=60, duration=300):
"""Log battery percentage and rema…How to Scan Configuration Files for Security Issues in Python
Automatically scan configuration files for common security mistakes using regex rules in Python.
import re
import os
from pathlib import Path
SECURITY_RULES = [
(r'^#\s*INSECURE_', 'Insecure comment starts with # INSECURE_'),
(r'password\s*=\s*("|\\\')?[^"\\\'"\s]+("|\\\')?$', 'Hardcoded password'),
(r'debug\s*=\s*True', 'Debug mode enabled'),
(r'[Pp]ermit[Rr]ootLogin\s+yes', 'PermitRootLogin ena…Browse by section
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Automation & scripting — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects automation & scripting snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
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.