🐍 Python Tutorial: Automation and Scripting

Python is a powerful language for automating repetitive tasks and building useful scripts to simplify your workflow. In this section, you'll learn how to automate file operations, interact with web pages, schedule tasks, and more.

1. Automating File Operations

You can use Python to rename files, move them between folders, or even parse and modify their contents:

import os

for filename in os.listdir("./docs"):
    if filename.endswith(".txt"):
        new_name = "processed_" + filename
        os.rename(f"./docs/{filename}", f"./processed/{new_name}")

2. Web Automation with Selenium

Selenium allows you to control a web browser using Python. It's great for scraping data or automating form submissions:

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

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get("https://example.com")
search_box = browser.find_element(By.NAME, "q")
search_box.send_keys("Python automation")
search_box.submit()

3. Task Scheduling

You can schedule your scripts to run periodically using Python with external tools or libraries like schedule:

import schedule
import time

def job():
    print("Running scheduled task")

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

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

4. Email Automation

Automate sending emails using the built-in smtplib module:

import smtplib

server = smtplib.SMTP("smtp.example.com", 587)
server.starttls()
server.login("you@example.com", "password")

message = "Subject: Hello!

This is an automated email."
server.sendmail("you@example.com", "recipient@example.com", message)
server.quit()

Additional Resources & References