Files & data
Read and write files safely; parse JSON, CSV, and common text formats.
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)
…How to Load a YAML Subset in Python Without PyYAML
Parse a flat, key-value YAML file with the Python standard library (re and pathlib), handling comments, quotes, and inline comments while skipping nested structures.
import re
from pathlib import Path
def load_yaml_subset(path):
"""Load a flat YAML file (key: value) without external dependencies."""
data = {}
with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
for line in f:
# Skip empty lines and comments
line = line.strip()
if no…How to Parse INI Config Files in Python with configparser
Load and read settings from an INI file using Python's built-in configparser module, with type-safe value access.
import configparser
from pathlib import Path
# Create a sample INI file for demonstration
sample_content = """
[Database]
host = localhost
port = 5432
user = admin
password = secret123
[Logging]
level = INFO
file = app.log
max_size = 10MB
"""
config_file = Path("sample_config.ini")
config_file.write_text(sample_con…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.
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()…Browse by section
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Files & data — Python code examples
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