Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
Automatically Download the Latest Software Release from GitHub with Python
Use the GitHub API to fetch the latest release metadata and download the first asset (binary or archive) to a local directory.
import requests
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def download_latest_release(owner: str, repo: str, output_dir: str = ".") -> None:
"""Download the latest release asset from a GitHub repository."""
url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest"
response = requests.get(url)
res…How to Compress a Folder in Python While Preserving Directory Structure
A Python function that uses zipfile to recursively compress a folder, maintaining the original directory hierarchy inside the zip archive.
import os
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
def compress_folder(source_dir: str, output_zip: str):
"""
Compress a folder into a zip file, preserving the directory structure.
Args:
source_dir: Path to the source directory to compress
output_zip: Path for the output zip file
"…How to Create a File Organizer That Sorts Files Automatically in Python
A Python script that scans a given folder, categorizes files by extension (Images, Documents, Audio, Video, Archives, Misc), and moves them into subfolders automatically.
import os
import shutil
from pathlib import Path
FILE_CATEGORIES = {
"Images": [".jpg", ".jpeg", ".png", ".gif", ".bmp"],
"Documents": [".pdf", ".docx", ".txt", ".csv", ".xlsx"],
"Audio": [".mp3", ".wav", ".flac", ".aac"],
"Video": [".mp4", ".mkv", ".avi", ".mov"],
"Archives": [".zip", ".tar", ".g…How to Create a Password Protected Zip Archive in Python
Generate a password-protected zip archive and verify password correctness using the standard library zipfile module.
import zipfile
import tempfile
import os
def create_password_protected_zip(zip_path, password: str, files: dict):
"""
Create a zip archive with password protection (mock encryption).
Args:
zip_path: Path where the zip file will be created
password: Password for the archive
files:…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
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.