Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
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…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 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 …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…How to Build a Python Tool That Finds Trending Open Source Projects Daily
A Python script that queries the GitHub Search API to fetch the top 5 trending repositories created in the last day, sorted by stars, with optional language filtering.
import requests
import json
import datetime
def fetch_trending_projects(language: str = "", since: str = "daily"):
url = "https://api.github.com/search/repositories"
date_limit = (datetime.date.today() - datetime.timedelta(days=1)).isoformat()
query = f"created:>{date_limit} language:{language}" if langua…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 Website Content Changes in Python
This script fetches a webpage's content, computes its SHA-256 hash, and compares it with the last stored hash to detect and alert on changes.
import time
import hashlib
import requests
from pathlib import Path
def fetch_content_hash(url: str) -> str:
response = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
response.raise_for_status()
return hashlib.sha256(response.text.encode()).hexdigest()
def monitor_website(url: str, check_interval: int = 60):
hash_fil…How to check Python files for common coding mistakes
Walks a directory tree parsing each .py file with ast, reporting empty functions, bare try blocks, too many parameters, and empty classes.
import ast
import os
import sys
def check_file(filepath):
try:
with open(filepath) as f:
code = f.read()
tree = ast.parse(code, filename=filepath)
except SyntaxError as e:
print(f"{filepath}: SyntaxError: {e.msg}")
return
issues = []
for node in ast.wal…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.