Reference library

Files & data

Read and write files safely; parse JSON, CSV, and common text formats.

84 matches
Files & data easy

Merge Multiple PDF Files into One Document in Python

Combines multiple PDF files into a single PDF document using the PyPDF2 library's PdfMerger class.

pdf pypdf2 file-merging
Python
import PyPDF2

def merge_pdfs(input_paths, output_path):
    merger = PyPDF2.PdfMerger()
    for path in input_paths:
        merger.append(path)
    merger.write(output_path)
    merger.close()
    print(f"Merged {len(input_paths)} PDFs into '{output_path}'.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    files = ["file1.pdf", "fi…
43 0 Open
Files & data easy

Move a file to an archive folder with shutil.move in Python

Move a file to an archive folder with shutil.move, creating the folder if needed, and return the new path.

shutil pathlib file-move
Python
from pathlib import Path
import shutil

def move_file_to_archive(source_file: str, archive_folder: str) -> Path:
    """Move a file to the archive folder, creating it if needed."""
    src = Path(source_file)
    archive = Path(archive_folder)
    archive.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    destination = archive / …
12 0 Open
Files & data easy

Normalize CSV Column Names to snake_case in Python

Convert CSV header names to snake_case using a regular expression and write the updated file in place.

csv regex snake-case
Python
import csv
import re
import sys


def to_snake_case(header):
    header = re.sub(r"(?<=[a-z0-9])(?=[A-Z])", "_", header)
    header = re.sub(r"[^a-zA-Z0-9]+", "_", header).strip("_").lower()
    return header


def normalize_csv_headers(input_path, output_path=None):
    with open(input_path, newline="", encoding="utf…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Parse Fixed Width Data File by Column Slices in Python

Extract fields from fixed-width text by slicing each line at defined column offsets, with a dictionary describing the boundaries.

fixed-width string-slicing parsing
Python
from pathlib import Path


def parse_fixed_width(data: str, slices: dict[str, tuple[int, int]]) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    lines = data.strip().splitlines()
    records = []
    for line in lines:
        record = {}
        for name, (start, end) in slices.items():
            record[name] = line[start:end].strip()…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Read Entire File into String with read Method in Python

Open a file, read its entire content into a string using the .read() method, and clean up with a context manager.

file-io read-method context-manager
Python
from pathlib import Path

def read_file_to_string(file_path: str) -> str:
    """Read the entire file content into a string using the read method."""
    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        content = file.read()
    return content

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Create a temporary file for d…
14 0 Open
Files & data easy

Read a CSV File with csv.DictReader in Python

Read a CSV file as a list of dictionaries, using csv.DictReader to map each row to column names.

csv csv-dictreader file-reading
Python
import csv
from pathlib import Path

def read_csv_with_dictreader(file_path):
    data = []
    with open(file_path, mode='r', newline='', encoding='utf-8') as csvfile:
        reader = csv.DictReader(csvfile)
        for row in reader:
            data.append(row)
    return data

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Cre…
11 0 Open
Files & data easy

Read an XML File with xml.etree.ElementTree in Python

Parse an XML file and print its root and child elements using the standard library's xml.etree.ElementTree module.

xml elementtree file-io
Python
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET


def read_xml_file(file_path):
    """Read an XML file and print its structure."""
    tree = ET.parse(file_path)
    root = tree.getroot()
    print(f"Root element: {root.tag}")
    for child in root:
        print(f"Child element: {child.tag}, text: {child.text}")


if __name__ ==…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Reassemble File Parts into Original File Bytes in Python

Read sorted part files from a directory and concatenate their bytes into the original file.

file handling binary byte concatenation
Python
import os
import sys
from pathlib import Path

def reassemble_parts(parts_dir: Path, output_path: Path) -> int:
    """
    Reassemble file parts into the original file.

    Args:
        parts_dir: Directory containing the part files
        output_path: Path where the reassembled file will be written

    Returns:
…
12 0 Open
Files & data easy

Rotate Log Files in Python by Size

This code rotates a log file when its size exceeds a threshold, keeping a specified number of backups.

log-rotation files os
Python
import os
import glob
from pathlib import Path

def rotate_log(log_path, max_size_bytes=1024, max_backups=3):
    log_file = Path(log_path)
    if log_file.stat().st_size <= max_size_bytes:
        print(f"Log size {log_file.stat().st_size} bytes <= threshold, no rotation")
        return

    for i in range(max_backu…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Split CSV Files into Smaller Chunks in Python

Splits a large CSV file into multiple smaller chunk files, preserving the header row in each chunk.

csv file-splitting batch-processing
Python
import csv
import os

def split_csv(input_file, chunk_size=1000, output_prefix="chunk"):
    """Split a large CSV file into smaller chunks."""
    with open(input_file, 'r', newline='') as infile:
        reader = csv.reader(infile)
        header = next(reader)
        
        file_count = 1
        row_count = 0
  …
44 0 Open
Files & data easy

Sync only changed files between two folders in Python

This code compares two folders and copies only the new or modified files from source to destination, skipping unchanged ones by comparing SHA-256 hashes.

files sync hashing
Python
import hashlib
from pathlib import Path
import shutil

def file_hash(path: Path, chunk_size: int = 8192) -> str:
    hasher = hashlib.sha256()
    with path.open("rb") as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(chunk_size), b""):
            hasher.update(chunk)
    return hasher.hexdigest()

def sync_files(src: s…
16 0 Open
Files & data easy

Write CSV file with csv DictWriter in Python

Write a list of dictionaries to a CSV file using Python's csv.DictWriter, including a header row.

csv file-writing dictwriter
Python
import csv
from pathlib import Path

fieldnames = ["name", "city", "age"]
rows = [
    {"name": "Alice", "city": "New York", "age": 30},
    {"name": "Bob", "city": "Los Angeles", "age": 25},
    {"name": "Charlie", "city": "Chicago", "age": 35},
]

path = Path("people.csv")
with path.open("w", newline="") as csvfile:…
16 0 Open

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