Functions & basics
Reusable building blocks — parameters, returns, scope, and clear function design.
How to Load a .env File Manually in Python
Parse a .env-style key-value file into a Python dictionary using only the standard library, with comment and quoted-value handling.
import re
from pathlib import Path
def load_dotenv_file(filepath: str) -> dict[str, str]:
"""Parse a .env-style file into a dictionary."""
env = {}
path = Path(filepath)
if not path.exists():
raise FileNotFoundError(f"Environment file not found: {filepath}")
for line in path.read_text()…
How to Use singledispatch for Type-Based Overloading in Python
This code demonstrates Python's functools.singledispatch decorator to create functions that behave differently based on the type of their first argument.
from functools import singledispatch
@singledispatch
def process(value):
return f"Unknown type: {type(value).__name__}"
@process.register(int)
def _(value):
return f"Integer: {value * 2}"
@process.register(str)
def _(value):
return f"String: {value.upper()}"
@process.register(list)
def _(value):
re…
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Functions & basics — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects functions & basics 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.