Python Automation Scripts: Streamlining Tasks with Python

Automation is a key aspect of modern computing, and Python is one of the best languages for automating repetitive tasks due to its simplicity and the wide range of libraries available. In this guide, we'll explore various Python scripts to automate different types of tasks, including file management, web scraping, sending emails, and more.

1. File Management Automation

Automating file management tasks can save a lot of time and reduce errors. Python's os and shutil modules are powerful tools for file and directory operations.

1.1. Renaming Multiple Files:

This script renames all files in a directory by adding a prefix.

import os

def rename_files(directory, prefix):
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        os.rename(
            os.path.join(directory, filename),
            os.path.join(directory, prefix + filename)
        )

# Usage
rename_files('/path/to/directory', 'new_')

1.2. Organizing Files by Extension:

This script organizes files in a directory into subdirectories based on their file extensions.

import os
import shutil

def organize_files_by_extension(directory):
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(directory, filename)):
            ext = filename.split('.')[-1]
            ext_dir = os.path.join(directory, ext)
            os.makedirs(ext_dir, exist_ok=True)
            shutil.move(os.path.join(directory, filename), os.path.join(ext_dir, filename))

# Usage
organize_files_by_extension('/path/to/directory')

2. Web Scraping Automation

Web scraping is the process of extracting data from websites. Python's BeautifulSoup and requests libraries make it easy to scrape web data.

2.1. Scraping a Web Page:

This script extracts and prints all the hyperlinks from a web page.

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

def scrape_links(url):
    response = requests.get(url)
    soup = BeautifulSoup(response.content, 'html.parser')
    links = soup.find_all('a')
    for link in links:
        print(link.get('href'))

# Usage
scrape_links('https://www.bytescrum.com')

2.2. Extracting Data from a Table:

This script extracts data from an HTML table and prints it in a structured format.

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

def scrape_table(url):
    response = requests.get(url)
    soup = BeautifulSoup(response.content, 'html.parser')
    table = soup.find('table')
    headers = [header.text for header in table.find_all('th')]
    rows = table.find_all('tr')

    for row in rows:
        columns = row.find_all('td')
        data = [column.text for column in columns]
        print(dict(zip(headers, data)))

# Usage
scrape_table('https://example.com/table_page')

3. Sending Automated Emails

Automating email tasks can be very useful for sending notifications, reports, or reminders. Python's smtplib library allows you to send emails using an SMTP server.

3.1. Sending a Simple Email:

This script sends a simple email using an SMTP server.

import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def send_email(subject, body, to_email):
    from_email = 'your_email@example.com'
    password = 'your_password'

    msg = MIMEText(body)
    msg['Subject'] = subject
    msg['From'] = from_email
    msg['To'] = to_email

    with smtplib.SMTP_SSL('smtp.example.com', 465) as server:
        server.login(from_email, password)
        server.sendmail(from_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

# Usage
send_email('Test Subject', 'This is a test email.', 'recipient@example.com')

4. Automating System Tasks

Python can be used to automate various system tasks, such as scheduling scripts, monitoring system resources, or interacting with other applications.

4.1. Scheduling Tasks withschedule:

This script uses the schedule library to run a function at a specific time every day.

import schedule
import time

def job():
    print("Doing daily task...")

schedule.every().day.at("10:00").do(job)

while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(1)

4.2. Monitoring System Resources:

This script monitors CPU and memory usage using the psutil library.

import psutil
import time

def monitor_system(interval):
    while True:
        cpu_usage = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
        memory_info = psutil.virtual_memory()
        print(f"CPU Usage: {cpu_usage}%")
        print(f"Memory Usage: {memory_info.percent}%")
        time.sleep(interval)

# Usage
monitor_system(5)

5. Web Automation

Web automation involves controlling a web browser to perform tasks such as form submissions, web scraping, or testing web applications. Selenium is a popular library for web automation in Python.

5.1. Automating Web Interaction with Selenium:

This script automates the process of filling out a form on a webpage.

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

def automate_form_submission(url, form_data):
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
    driver.get(url)

    for field_name, field_value in form_data.items():
        field = driver.find_element_by_name(field_name)
        field.send_keys(field_value)

    submit_button = driver.find_element_by_name('submit')
    submit_button.click()

    driver.quit()

# Usage
form_data = {
    'username': 'your_username',
    'password': 'your_password'
}
automate_form_submission('https://example.com/login', form_data)

5.2. Scraping Dynamic Content with Selenium:

This script uses Selenium to scrape data from a dynamically loaded webpage.

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

def scrape_dynamic_content(url):
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
    driver.get(url)

    content = driver.find_element(By.ID, 'dynamic-content').text
    print(content)

    driver.quit()

# Usage
scrape_dynamic_content('https://example.com/dynamic')

Thank you for reading our blog.

Happy Coding!