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…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…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 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:
…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 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 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…How to Sync Two Directories in Python (rsync-like)
Mirror a source directory into a destination by copying new or changed files and deleting extras, similar to rsync.
import os
import shutil
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def sync_dirs(src: Path, dst: Path):
"""Mirror src into dst: copy new files, overwrite changed, delete extras."""
dst.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
for dst_entry in dst.rglob('*'):
rel = dst_entry.relative_to(dst)
src_entry =…How to Track GitHub Stars, Forks, and Watchers in Python
Automatically fetch and track stars, forks, and watchers for multiple GitHub repositories, saving snapshots locally as JSON files for historical analysis.
import os
import time
import json
import requests
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
REPOS = [
"psf/requests",
"python/cpython",
"pallets/flask",
]
DATA_DIR = Path("github_metrics")
def fetch_repo_stats(repo):
url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{repo}"
resp = requests.get(ur…How to apply Kubernetes YAML files from a folder in Python
Uses the Kubernetes Python client to apply all YAML manifests in a directory, with sorted processing and per-file error handling.
import os
import yaml
from kubernetes import client, config
from kubernetes.utils import create_from_yaml
def apply_yaml_folder(folder_path):
"""Apply all YAML files in a folder using the Kubernetes mock client."""
# Load mock configuration
config.load_kube_config()
k8s_client = client.ApiClient()
…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…Mount ISO Loop Device Mock Script in Python
Simulate ISO mounting with a loop device using a mock class — useful for testing scripts that depend on mount/unmount without actual system privileges.
import os
import tempfile
from dataclasses import dataclass
from pathlib import Path
@dataclass
class LoopDevice:
path: str
iso_path: str
mounted: bool = False
def mount(self, mount_point: str):
if self.mounted:
raise RuntimeError(f"Loop device {self.path} already mounted")
…Python: Archive Old Logs by Compressing Gzip by Age
A Python script that finds .log files older than a specified age and compresses them into .gz archives while removing the originals.
import gzip
import os
import shutil
from pathlib import Path
def archive_logs(log_dir: str, max_age_days: int) -> list[str]:
"""Compress log files older than max_age_days into .gz archives.
Returns a list of compressed file paths.
"""
cutoff = time.time() - max_age_days * 86400
compressed = …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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