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Files & data

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

134 matches
Files & data easy

Parse CSV with Custom Delimiter and Quote Character in Python

Reads a CSV string with a custom delimiter and quote character using the csv module, returning a list of rows.

csv parsing delimiter
Python
import csv
from io import StringIO

def parse_csv(data, delimiter='|', quotechar='"'):
    reader = csv.reader(StringIO(data), delimiter=delimiter, quotechar=quotechar)
    rows = [row for row in reader]
    return rows

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sample = 'Alice|"Smith, Jr."|25\nBob|"Johnson, Sr."|30'
    result …
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…
16 0 Open
Files & data medium

Read Parquet-Like Columnar CSV Chunks in Python

A Python generator that reads a CSV file column-by-column, yielding dictionary chunks where each key points to a list of values—mirroring how Parquet stores data columnar.

csv columnar generator
Python
```python
import csv
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Iterator, List

def read_parquet_like_columnar(csv_path: str, column_names: List[str], chunk_size: int = 2) -> Iterator[dict]:
    """Read CSV data in columnar chunks, similar to how parquet stores columns."""
    csv_file = Path(csv_path)
    with csv_f…
13 0 Open
Files & data easy

Read SQLite database with sqlite3 module in Python

Connect to a SQLite database and query rows with the standard library sqlite3 module, returning results as dictionaries.

sqlite database stdlib
Python
import sqlite3
from pathlib import Path

# Create an in-memory database and a sample table
connection = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
cursor = connection.cursor()

cursor.execute("""
CREATE TABLE employees (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    department TEXT NOT NULL,
    salary REAL
)
""")

# Inser…
17 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…
12 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 medium

Scrape HTML Tables and Convert Them to CSV Using Beautiful Soup in Python

Scrape a Wikipedia table with Beautiful Soup and write the data to a CSV file using the csv module.

web scraping beautiful soup csv
Python
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import csv

url = "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)"
response = requests.get(url)
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, 'html.parser')

tables = soup.find_all('table', {'class': 'wikitable'})

if tables:
    target_table = tables[2]
    rows =…
47 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 medium

Tail last N lines of growing log file in Python

Prints the last n lines of a log file and follows new content appended to it, polling for size changes.

log-file file-handling polling
Python
import time
from pathlib import Path

def tail_log(file_path, n=10, poll_interval=1.0, timeout=10):
    """
    Print the last n lines and follow new lines appended to a growing log file.
    """
    path = Path(file_path)
    # Read the last n lines from the current file
    with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f…
13 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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