Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
How to Deploy a Static Site Build to an Nginx Directory in Python
Copy a static site build directory into an Nginx web root using Python's shutil and pathlib modules.
import shutil
import os
from pathlib import Path
SRC_DIR = Path("build")
DEST_DIR = Path("/var/www/html")
def deploy_site(src: Path, dest: Path) -> None:
if not src.exists():
raise FileNotFoundError(f"Build directory not found: {src}")
dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
for item in src.ite…How to Detect Network Interface Changes in Python
Monitor active network interfaces and print a message when an interface is added or removed using psutil and socket.
import socket
import psutil
import time
def get_network_interfaces():
"""Return a set of currently active interface names."""
active_ifaces = set()
for iface, addrs in psutil.net_if_addrs().items():
for addr in addrs:
if addr.family == socket.AF_INET: # IPv4 address present
…How to Detect Recently Installed Software in Python
Uses subprocess to call pip and parse package metadata to list recently installed Python packages.
import subprocess
import sys
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def detect_recently_installed(days=7):
"""Detect recently installed software packages."""
recent_packages = []
cutoff_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=days)
try:
# For pip-installed packages (Python packages)
…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 All Assets from GitHub Releases in Python
Downloads every asset attached to the latest GitHub release of a repository, saving them locally using the GitHub API and Python's requests and pathlib libraries.
import requests
import os
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
def download_github_release_assets(owner: str, repo: str, output_dir: str = "release_assets") -> None:
"""Downloads all assets from the latest release of a GitHub repository."""
releases_url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/relea…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 Download a List of URLs to a Directory in Python
This script downloads a list of URLs into a specified directory, creating the folder if needed and keeping original filenames.
import urllib.request
from pathlib import Path
def download_urls(url_list, directory):
"""Download each URL in url_list into directory, keeping original filenames."""
save_dir = Path(directory)
save_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
for url in url_list:
filename = url.rstrip('/').spl…How to Filter Docker Containers for Pruning in Python
Simulate Docker's container prune by filtering a JSON list for exited containers older than a cutoff, returning pruned IDs and space freed.
import json
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
def parse_docker_ps(json_output: str, older_than_hours: int = 24) -> list:
containers = json.loads(json_output)
cutoff = datetime.now() - timedelta(hours=older_than_hours)
return [
c for c in containers
if datetime.fromisoformat(c["crea…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 Thumbnails While Maintaining Aspect Ratio in Python
Resize images to fit within maximum dimensions while preserving the original aspect ratio using Pillow (PIL).
from PIL import Image
def thumbnail_with_aspect_ratio(image_path, output_path, max_width, max_height):
with Image.open(image_path) as img:
# Get original dimensions
width, height = img.size
# Calculate scaling ratio to fit within max dimensions
ratio = min(max_width / width, max_h…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 Hash Duplicate Photos and Delete Copies in Python
This script hashes image files in a directory using SHA-256 and deletes duplicate copies while keeping the first occurrence, ideal for cleaning up photo libraries.
from pathlib import Path
import hashlib
def file_hash(path, chunk_size=8192):
hasher = hashlib.sha256()
with open(path, "rb") as f:
for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(chunk_size), b""):
hasher.update(chunk)
return hasher.hexdigest()
def delete_duplicate_photos(directory):
directory …How to Implement a Weighted DNS Resolver with Failover in Python
Simulates a weighted DNS load balancer that distributes traffic across IPs by weight and automatically fails over when a server is marked unhealthy.
import random
import time
class WeightedDNSResolver:
def __init__(self, records):
self.records = records # list of (ip, weight)
self.total_weight = sum(weight for _, weight in records)
self.failed_ips = set()
def resolve(self):
available = [(ip, weight) for ip, weight in self…How to Implement argparse CLI Command in Python
Build a beginner-friendly command-line tool with argparse that accepts positional and optional arguments, flags, and prints a customizable greeting.
import argparse
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A simple CLI tool to greet users.")
parser.add_argument("name", help="Your name")
parser.add_argument("-g", "--greeting", default="Hello", help="Greeting word (default: Hello)")
parser.add_argument("--uppercase", action="store_…How to Import Users from CSV into LDAP-like Dicts in Python
Reads a CSV of user records and converts each row into an LDAP-style dictionary with standard attributes using Python's csv module.
import csv
import io
from pathlib import Path
def mock_ldap_import(csv_path):
"""
Reads a CSV file with user data and returns a list of LDAP-like user dicts.
Adds standard LDAP attributes that would come from directory schema.
"""
with open(csv_path, newline="", encoding="utf-8") as csvfile:
…How to Kill Zombie Processes Matching a Name in Python
Scans running processes with ps, finds zombies whose command name matches a pattern, and attempts to kill them with SIGKILL.
import subprocess
import re
import signal
def find_zombies(name_pattern):
"""Find PIDs of zombie processes matching the given pattern."""
result = subprocess.run(["ps", "-eo", "pid,stat,comm"], capture_output=True, text=True)
zombies = []
for line in result.stdout.splitlines()[1:]: # Skip header
…How to Map Network Drive Paths to Local Paths in Python
Convert mock SMB network drive paths (like 'S:\reports\q1.xlsx') to local placeholder paths and back using a simple mapping dictionary in Python.
"""Map mock SMB network drive paths to local placeholder paths."""
from dataclasses import dataclass
@dataclass(frozen=True)
class NetworkDrive:
letter: str
remote_path: str
DRIVES = {
"S:": NetworkDrive("S", r"\\server01\shares\sales"),
"M:": NetworkDrive("M", r"\\server02\media\movies"),
"X:": …How to Mock FFmpeg subprocess Calls in Python
Compress a video with ffmpeg while mocking subprocess.run to test the command construction without executing the actual encoder.
import subprocess
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
def compress_video(input_path: str, output_path: str, crf: int = 23) -> None:
"""Compress a video using ffmpeg with a given CRF (quality) value."""
command = [
"ffmpeg",
"-i", input_path,
"-c:v", "libx264",
"-crf", str(cr…How to Mock a Whisper API Transcription Stub in Python
Simulate an OpenAI Whisper-style transcription response with a dataclass request model and a mock function that returns structured audio transcription output.
import json
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Optional
@dataclass
class AudioRequest:
file_path: str
language: Optional[str] = None
def to_api_payload(self) -> dict:
return {"file": self.file_path, "language": self.language}
def mock_whisper_transcribe(payload: dict) -> dict:
…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 Monitor Process RSS Memory in Python
Poll the VmRSS field from /proc/PID/status to watch a process's resident memory and alert on growth.
import os
import time
import subprocess
import sys
def get_rss_mb(pid):
"""Return RSS memory in MB for a given process ID."""
try:
with open(f"/proc/{pid}/status", "r") as f:
for line in f:
if line.startswith("VmRSS:"):
return int(line.split()[1]) / 1024…How to Monitor USB Device Connections in Python
A Python utility that monitors USB device connections and disconnections by comparing output of the lsusb command at regular intervals.
import time
import subprocess
import os
def get_usb_devices():
"""Return list of currently connected USB devices (Linux)."""
try:
result = subprocess.run(['lsusb'], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
return result.stdout.strip().split('\n')
except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, F…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 Parse CLI Arguments in Python with argparse
Build a beginner-friendly CLI with argparse that accepts optional --name, --greeting, and --uppercase flags, then prints a customizable greeting.
import argparse
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Greet a user with optional customization.")
parser.add_argument("--name", default="world", help="Name to greet")
parser.add_argument("--greeting", default="Hello", help="Greeting word")
parser.add_argument("--uppercase", action=…Browse by section
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