Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
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…Find Best Meeting Time Across Time Zones in Python
This code calculates overlapping available hours among participants in different time zones and returns the best meeting time in UTC and each participant's local time.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import List, Tuple, Optional
@dataclass
class Participant:
name: str
timezone: str
# weekdays availability: 0=Mon, start_hour (0-23), end_hour (0-23)
available_slots: List[Tup…Generate Holiday Calendars for Different Countries in Python
Generate a sorted list of public holidays for a given country and year using Python's calendar and datetime modules.
import calendar
from datetime import date, timedelta
def generate_holiday_calendar(country_code, year=2025):
holidays = []
if country_code == "US":
# New Year's Day
holidays.append(date(year, 1, 1))
# Independence Day
holidays.append(date(year, 7, 4))
# Thanksgivin…How to Build a Mock Route53 DNS API in Python
Create a mock DNS API server in Python that simulates Route53 record lookups and updates using the standard library.
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from urllib.parse import urlparse, parse_qs
class DNSUpdateHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
records = {"example.com": "1.2.3.4"}
def do_GET(self):
domain = parse_qs(urlparse(self.path).query).get("domain", [""])[0]
if dom…How to Check SSL Certificate Expiry in Python
Connect to a host over TLS, extract the certificate's expiry date, and report days remaining using only the Python standard library.
import socket
import ssl
from datetime import datetime
def check_cert_expiry(hostname, port=443):
context = ssl.create_default_context()
with socket.create_connection((hostname, port), timeout=10) as sock:
with context.wrap_socket(sock, server_hostname=hostname) as tls_sock:
cert = tls_soc…How to Validate SSL Certificates for Multiple Domains in Python
A Python utility that checks SSL certificate expiry dates for a list of domains using the standard library ssl and socket modules.
import ssl
import socket
from datetime import datetime
def check_ssl_certificate(hostname: str, port: int = 443) -> dict:
"""Validate SSL certificate for a given hostname."""
context = ssl.create_default_context()
with socket.create_connection((hostname, port), timeout=5) as sock:
with context.wra…Browse by section
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Automation & scripting — Python code examples
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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.
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