Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
Build a Command-Line Password Generator in Python
Generate cryptographically strong random passwords using Python's secrets module and print them for command-line use.
import secrets
import string
def generate_password(length=16):
"""Generate a cryptographically strong random password."""
alphabet = string.ascii_letters + string.digits + string.punctuation
password = ''.join(secrets.choice(alphabet) for _ in range(length))
return password
if __name__ == "__main__":…Build a Complete Web Scraper with Requests and BeautifulSoup in Python
Scrape multiple paginated pages from a website using Requests and BeautifulSoup, with retry logic, error handling, and CSV export.
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import csv
import time
from typing import List, Dict, Optional
class WebScraper:
def __init__(self, base_url: str, output_file: str = "scraped_data.csv"):
self.base_url = base_url
self.output_file = output_file
self.session = requests.Session()…Build a Complete Website Sitemap Generator Without External Services
Crawl a website recursively using only Python's standard library to generate a structured sitemap of internal links.
import json
from urllib.parse import urlparse, urljoin
from collections import deque
import urllib.request
import urllib.error
import re
from html.parser import HTMLParser
class SitemapParser(HTMLParser):
def __init__(self, base_url):
super().__init__()
self.base_url = base_url
self.links …Build a Live Countdown Timer for Events in Python
A Python script that displays a real-time countdown to a target date and time, updating every second in the console.
import datetime
import time
def countdown(event_name, target_datetime):
"""Displays a live countdown to a target datetime."""
while True:
now = datetime.datetime.now()
remaining = target_datetime - now
if remaining.total_seconds() <= 0:
print(f"\n🚀 {event_name} is happening…Build a Network Ping Monitor in Python
A Python script that continuously pings a remote host using subprocess and reports connectivity status with timestamps and latency.
import subprocess
import time
def ping_host(host, count=4):
"""Ping a host and return the results."""
try:
# Platform-independent ping command
cmd = ["ping", "-c", str(count), host]
result = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=10)
return result.stdout, r…Build a Python Tool to Find All API Endpoints on a Website
A Python script that crawls a website, searches for common API endpoint patterns in HTML and JavaScript, and returns all discovered public API URLs.
import re
import requests
from urllib.parse import urljoin, urlparse
from collections import deque
def find_api_endpoints(base_url, max_pages=10):
visited = set()
queue = deque([base_url])
api_endpoints = set()
api_patterns = [
r'/api/[a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+',
r'/v[0-9]+/[a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+',…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 a Website Accessibility Scanner Using Python
Scans a webpage for common accessibility issues like missing alt text, headings, labels, and landmarks using only Python.
import requests
from urllib.parse import urljoin
from html.parser import HTMLParser
import re
class AccessibilityParser(HTMLParser):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.images_without_alt = []
self.missing_headings = True
self.has_main_tag = False
self.label_for_inp…Build an M3U Playlist from Folder MP3s in Python
Scans a folder for MP3 files and writes a valid M3U playlist with absolute file URIs.
from pathlib import Path
import sys
def build_playlist(folder: str, output: str = "playlist.m3u") -> str:
folder_path = Path(folder)
if not folder_path.is_dir():
raise FileNotFoundError(f"Folder not found: {folder}")
mp3_files = sorted(folder_path.glob("*.mp3"))
if not mp3_files:
pri…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 Mock Watermarked Image Bytes in Python Without PIL
Builds a mock image-like byte stream with an embedded watermark using only stdlib modules, for testing pipelines without PIL.
from io import BytesIO
import zlib
import struct
def create_watermarked_bytes(width: int, height: int, watermark: bytes) -> bytes:
"""Create a mock image-like byte stream with a watermark (no PIL)."""
header = struct.pack("<2I", width, height)
payload = watermark * max(1, (width * height // max(1, len(wa…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…Fetch weather API mock and write dashboard HTML in Python
This script fetches a mock weather API response as a Python dict, builds a simple HTML dashboard, writes it to a file, and prints both the file path and JSON payload.
from datetime import datetime
import json
import os
def fetch_weather_mock(city: str) -> dict:
"""Return a mock weather payload for a given city."""
return {
"city": city,
"temperature_c": 21.5,
"condition": "Partly Cloudy",
"humidity": 58,
"wind_kph": 12.3,
"u…Generate Strong Random Passwords with Custom Rules in Python
Build a configurable password generator using Python's secrets module that lets you toggle lowercase, uppercase, digits, and punctuation.
import secrets
import string
def generate_password(length=16, use_lower=True, use_upper=True, use_digits=True, use_punct=True):
pool = ''
if use_lower:
pool += string.ascii_lowercase
if use_upper:
pool += string.ascii_uppercase
if use_digits:
pool += string.digits
if use_pu…How to Build a CLI with argparse in Python
Create a beginner-friendly command-line tool in Python that processes multiple filenames with optional flags for verbose output and uppercase conversion.
import argparse
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="A simple CLI to process files with optional verbose mode."
)
parser.add_argument("filenames", nargs="+", help="Files to process")
parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="Print extra details")
…How to Build a Cryptocurrency Price Tracker in Python
A continuous Python script that fetches real-time cryptocurrency prices from the CoinGecko API and displays them on a loop.
import requests
import time
def get_crypto_prices(coin_ids=["bitcoin", "ethereum", "solana"]):
url = "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price"
params = {
"ids": ",".join(coin_ids),
"vs_currencies": "usd"
}
try:
response = requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=10)
…How to Build a Docker Image Tag Script in Python
Generate consistent Docker image tags from service names and versions with automatic normalization.
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Mock script for building docker image tags."""
def build_tag(service_name: str, version: str, registry: str = "docker.io") -> str:
"""Construct a docker image tag."""
safe_name = service_name.lower().replace("_", "-")
return f"{registry}/{safe_name}:{version}"
if __name__ == "…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 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 Build a Python argparse CLI for Beginners
Build a beginner-friendly command-line interface using Python's argparse module with positional and optional arguments.
import argparse
def greet(name, greeting="Hello", uppercase=False):
message = f"{greeting}, {name}!"
if uppercase:
message = message.upper()
return message
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A simple CLI greet tool for beginners.")
parser.add_argument("name", help="…How to Build a Simple Python CLI with argparse
Create a friendly command-line greeting tool with argparse that accepts a positional name and optional flags for custom greetings and uppercase output.
import argparse
def greet(name, greeting="Hello", uppercase=False):
message = f"{greeting}, {name}!"
return message.upper() if uppercase else message
if __name__ == "__main__":
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="A simple greeting tool to demonstrate argparse basics."
)
parser.…How to Build a Simple argparse CLI in Python
Create a beginner-friendly command-line tool with argparse that reads a file, optionally uppercases its lines, and prints a configurable number of lines.
import argparse
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="Automate file processing with a simple CLI tool."
)
parser.add_argument("filename", help="Path to the input file")
parser.add_argument("--uppercase", action="store_true", help="Convert text to uppercase")
parser.add…Browse by section
Each section groups closely related Python snippets.
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.