Files & data
Read and write files safely; parse JSON, CSV, and common text formats.
Append a Line to a Log File in Python
Append a line to a file using a context manager and Path.open().
from pathlib import Path
def append_to_log(filepath, message):
with Path(filepath).open("a") as log_file:
log_file.write(f"{message}\n")
if __name__ == "__main__":
log_path = "log.txt"
append_to_log(log_path, "First entry")
append_to_log(log_path, "Second entry")
# Verify contents
…Audit File Permissions Across a Project in Python
Walks through every file and directory in a project tree and prints POSIX permissions plus owner UID.
import os
import stat
from pathlib import Path
def audit_file_permissions(project_root):
"""Walk through project_root and print path, owner, and permissions for every file."""
results = []
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(project_root):
for name in files + dirs:
full_path = os.path.joi…Automatically Detect Corrupted Files Using SHA-256 Checksums in Python
Compute SHA-256 checksums of files and compare them to detect corruption in Python.
import hashlib
import os
def compute_sha256(filepath: str) -> str:
"""Compute SHA-256 checksum of a file."""
sha256 = hashlib.sha256()
with open(filepath, 'rb') as f:
for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(4096), b''):
sha256.update(chunk)
return sha256.hexdigest()
def validate_file_int…Automatically Highlight Data Validation Errors Inside Excel Files in Python
Load an Excel file with openpyxl, iterate over cells, and highlight invalid data (empty, negative) with a red fill and error message.
import openpyxl
from openpyxl.styles import PatternFill
from pathlib import Path
def highlight_validation_errors(filepath: str, output_path: str = None):
wb = openpyxl.load_workbook(filepath)
red_fill = PatternFill(start_color="FF0000", end_color="FF0000", fill_type="solid")
for sheet in wb.worksheet…Build a Command-Line To-Do List Application with Data Persistence in Python
A persistent command-line to-do list that saves tasks as JSON, supporting add, show, toggle done, and quit commands.
import json
import os
TODO_FILE = "todos.json"
def load_todos():
if not os.path.exists(TODO_FILE):
return []
with open(TODO_FILE, "r") as f:
return json.load(f)
def save_todos(todos):
with open(TODO_FILE, "w") as f:
json.dump(todos, f, indent=2)
def show_todos(todos):
if not…Build a File Index by Relative Path Hash Map in Python
Recursively walk a directory and map normalized relative paths to absolute file paths using a defaultdict hash map.
import os
from collections import defaultdict
def build_file_index(root_dir):
index = defaultdict(list)
for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(root_dir):
for filename in filenames:
full_path = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
relative_path = os.path.relpath(full_path, roo…Build a Personal Work Hours Tracker in Python
A Python class that logs daily work hours to a CSV file and produces a weekly summary of total hours worked.
import csv
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime, date
class WorkHoursTracker:
def __init__(self, file_path="work_hours.csv"):
self.file_path = Path(file_path)
if not self.file_path.exists():
with open(self.file_path, "w", newline="") as f:
writer = csv…Build a Python Script That Detects and Deletes Empty Files Across Folders
A Python script that recursively finds and removes all zero-byte files across nested directories, returning a list of deleted paths.
import os
from pathlib import Path
def find_and_delete_empty_files(root_dir: str) -> list:
"""Find and delete all empty files under root_dir. Returns list of deleted paths."""
deleted = []
for file_path in Path(root_dir).rglob('*'):
if file_path.is_file() and file_path.stat().st_size == 0:
…Build a Secure Local Password Vault with Encrypted Storage in Python
A Python class that stores and retrieves passwords in an encrypted JSON file using Fernet symmetric encryption from the cryptography library.
import json
import os
import base64
import hashlib
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
from getpass import getpass
class PasswordVault:
def __init__(self, vault_file="vault.json", key_file="vault.key"):
self.vault_file = vault_file
self.key_file = key_file
self.key = self._load_or_creat…Chunk Large File Upload Simulation by Blocks in Python
A Python script reads a large binary file in fixed-size chunks and simulates a block-by-block upload with per-chunk SHA256 hashing.
import os
import hashlib
from pathlib import Path
def read_file_in_chunks(file_path, chunk_size=8196):
"""Yield chunks of a file as bytes."""
with open(file_path, 'rb') as f:
while chunk := f.read(chunk_size):
yield chunk
def simulate_chunked_upload(file_path, chunk_size=8196):
"""S…Compare Two Folder Structures and Find Differences in Python
Walks two directories using os.walk, builds sets of relative paths, and prints items that exist in only one folder.
import os
def compare_folders(path1, path2):
"""
Compare the file/folder structure of two directories and print differences.
"""
def get_structure(root):
structure = set()
for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(root):
rel_path = os.path.relpath(dirpath, root)
…Compress and Extract ZIP Files Programmatically in Python
Create a ZIP archive with in-memory files and extract its contents to a directory using Python's stdlib zipfile and pathlib modules.
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
import tempfile
import os
def create_sample_zip(zip_path: str, files: dict) -> None:
"""Create a ZIP file containing the given files (name -> content mapping)."""
with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_path, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf:
for filename, content in files.ite…Convert All Markdown Files in a Folder to HTML in Python
Batch convert every .md file in a folder to .html using the `markdown` library with the 'extra' extensions.
import os
import markdown
from pathlib import Path
def convert_md_folder_to_html(input_folder="markdown_files", output_folder="html_pages"):
input_path = Path(input_folder)
output_path = Path(output_folder)
output_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
for md_file in input_path.glob("*.md"):
with open…Convert CSV Files to JSON in Python
Convert a CSV file to a JSON file using Python's built-in csv and json modules.
import csv
import json
def csv_to_json(csv_filepath, json_filepath):
"""Convert a CSV file to a JSON file."""
with open(csv_filepath, mode='r', newline='') as csv_file:
reader = csv.DictReader(csv_file)
data = [row for row in reader]
with open(json_filepath, mode='w') as json_file:
…Convert File Data to a Dictionary in Python
This function scans a directory and converts each file's metadata (name, size, extension) into a structured dictionary for easy access.
from pathlib import Path
def convert_files_data(directory: str) -> dict:
data = {}
base = Path(directory)
if not base.exists():
return data
for file in base.iterdir():
if file.is_file():
data[file.name] = {
"size": file.stat().st_size,
"exten…Count Files by Extension in Python
Count files in a directory grouped by file extension using Python's standard library.
from pathlib import Path
def count_files_by_extension(directory: str) -> dict[str, int]:
"""Count files in a directory grouped by file extension."""
data = {}
for path in Path(directory).iterdir():
if path.is_file():
ext = path.suffix.lower() or "(no extension)"
data[ext] =…Create a Local File Versioning System Using Pure Python
Track file changes locally by copying versions with SHA-256 hashes and JSON metadata using only the Python standard library.
import os
import shutil
import hashlib
import json
import time
from pathlib import Path
class LocalFileVersioning:
def __init__(self, target_dir="versioned_files", versions_dir="versions"):
self.target_dir = Path(target_dir)
self.versions_dir = Path(versions_dir)
self.metadata_file = self.…Create a ZIP Archive of a Folder in Python
Recursively zip all files in a folder into a single archive using the standard library zipfile and pathlib modules.
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
def zip_folder(source_dir: str, archive_path: str) -> None:
"""Zip all files in source_dir recursively into archive_path."""
source = Path(source_dir)
with zipfile.ZipFile(archive_path, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as archive:
for file_path in source.rglob("*"…Detect Outliers in CSV Data Using Z-Score in Python
Read a CSV file and detect outliers in a numeric column by computing z-scores, flagging those exceeding a given threshold — no machine learning required.
import csv
import statistics
from math import sqrt
def detect_outliers(csv_path, column_name, threshold=2.0):
"""Detect outliers in a numeric column using z-score method."""
values = []
with open(csv_path, 'r', newline='') as f:
reader = csv.DictReader(f)
if column_name not in reader.field…Download Files from Internet with Progress Bar in Python
Download a file from the internet while displaying a text progress bar in the terminal.
import urllib.request
import sys
def download_with_progress(url, filename):
"""Download a file with a simple text progress bar."""
def report_hook(block_count, block_size, total_size):
downloaded = block_count * block_size
if total_size > 0:
percent = min(100, int(downloaded * 100 …Encrypt and Decrypt Files Using Python
Encrypt and decrypt files using the cryptography library's Fernet symmetric encryption.
import os
from pathlib import Path
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
def generate_key(key_file: Path) -> bytes:
key = Fernet.generate_key()
key_file.write_bytes(key)
return key
def load_key(key_file: Path) -> bytes:
return key_file.read_bytes()
def encrypt_file(input_path: Path, key: bytes, out…Export List of Dicts to CSV in Python
Write a list of dictionaries (dataframe-like) to a CSV file with headers using the standard library csv module and verify by reading it back.
import csv
def export_to_csv(data, filename):
"""Export a list of dicts to a CSV file."""
if not data:
print("No data to export")
return
# Get column names from the keys of the first dict
fieldnames = list(data[0].keys())
with open(filename, 'w', newline='', encoding='utf…Export SQLite Query Results to CSV in Python
Connects to a SQLite database, runs a query, and writes the result rows and column headers to a CSV file using the standard library.
import sqlite3
import csv
def export_query_to_csv(db_path, query, csv_path):
conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
cursor = conn.cursor()
cursor.execute(query)
rows = cursor.fetchall()
column_names = [description[0] for description in cursor.description]
with open(csv_path, 'w', newline='', encodi…Extract Hyperlinks from Word Documents in Python
Parses a .docx file using Python's standard library to extract every hyperlink's display text and target URL.
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
def extract_hyperlinks_from_docx(filepath: str) -> list[dict]:
"""
Extract all hyperlinks from a .docx file.
Returns a list of dicts with 'text' and 'target' keys.
"""
hyperlinks = []
with zipfile.ZipFile(Path(filepath)…Browse by section
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