30 Helpful Python Snippets You Should Learn Today

In this article, we will briefly see 30 short code snippets that you can understand and learn in 30 seconds or less. These will save you the trouble of surfing Stack Overflow every time you need to do something.

Python is a no-BS programming language. Readability and simplicity of design are two of the biggest reasons for its immense popularity.

Part of the reason for this popularity is its simplicity and easiness to learn it.

If you are reading this, then it is highly likely that you already use Python or at least have an interest in it.

In this article, we will briefly see 30 short code snippets that you can understand and learn in 30 seconds or less.

The following tricks will prove handy in your day-to-day coding exercises.

1. All unique

The following method checks whether the given list has duplicate elements. It uses the property of set() which removes duplicate elements from the list.

def all_unique(lst):
    return len(lst) == len(set(lst))


x = [1,1,2,2,3,2,3,4,5,6]
y = [1,2,3,4,5]
all_unique(x) # False
all_unique(y) # True

2. Anagrams

This method can be used to check if two strings are anagrams. An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once.

from collections import Counter

def anagram(first, second):
    return Counter(first) == Counter(second)


anagram("abcd3", "3acdb") # True

3. Memory

This snippet can be used to check the memory usage of an object.

import sys 

variable = 30 
print(sys.getsizeof(variable)) # 24

4. Byte size

This method returns the length of a string in bytes.

def byte_size(string):
    return(len(string.encode('utf-8')))


byte_size('😀') # 4
byte_size('Hello World') # 11

5. Print a string N times

This snippet can be used to print a string n times without having to use loops to do it.

n = 2; 
s ="Programming"; 

print(s * n); # ProgrammingProgramming

6. Capitalize first letters

This snippet simply uses the method title() to capitalize first letters of every word in a string.

s = "programming is awesome"

print(s.title()) # Programming Is Awesome

7. Chunk

This method chunks a list into smaller lists of a specified size.

def chunk(list, size):
    return [list[i:i+size] for i in range(0,len(list), size)]

8. Compact

This method removes falsy values (False, None, 0 and “”) from a list by using filter().

def compact(lst):
    return list(filter(None, lst))


compact([0, 1, False, 2, '', 3, 'a', 's', 34]) # [ 1, 2, 3, 'a', 's', 34 ]

9. Count by

This snippet can be used to transpose a 2D array.

array = [['a', 'b'], ['c', 'd'], ['e', 'f']]
transposed = zip(*array)
print(transposed) # [('a', 'c', 'e'), ('b', 'd', 'f')]

10. Chained comparison

You can do multiple comparisons with all kinds of operators in a single line.

a = 3
print( 2 < a < 8) # True
print(1 == a < 2) # False

11. Comma-separated

This snippet can be used to turn a list of strings into a single string with each element from the list separated by commas.

hobbies = ["basketball", "football", "swimming"]

print("My hobbies are:") # My hobbies are:
print(", ".join(hobbies)) # basketball, football, swimming

12. Get vowels

This method gets vowels (‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’) found in a string.

def get_vowels(string):
    return [each for each in string if each in 'aeiou'] 


get_vowels('foobar') # ['o', 'o', 'a']
get_vowels('gym') # []

13. Decapitalize

This method can be used to turn the first letter of the given string into lowercase.

def decapitalize(str):
    return str[:1].lower() + str[1:]


decapitalize('FooBar') # 'fooBar'
decapitalize('FooBar') # 'fooBar'

14. Flatten

The following methods flatten a potentially deep list using recursion.

def spread(arg):
    ret = []
    for i in arg:
        if isinstance(i, list):
            ret.extend(i)
        else:
            ret.append(i)
    return ret

def deep_flatten(xs):
    flat_list = []
    [flat_list.extend(deep_flatten(x)) for x in xs] if isinstance(xs, list) else flat_list.append(xs)
    return flat_list


deep_flatten([1, [2], [[3], 4], 5]) # [1,2,3,4,5]

15. Difference

This method finds the difference between two iterables by keeping only the values that are in the first one.

def difference(a, b):
    set_a = set(a)
    set_b = set(b)
    comparison = set_a.difference(set_b)
    return list(comparison)


difference([1,2,3], [1,2,4]) # [3]

16. Difference by

The following method returns the difference between two lists after applying a given function to each element of both lists.

def difference_by(a, b, fn):
    b = set(map(fn, b))
    return [item for item in a if fn(item) not in b]


from math import floor
difference_by([2.1, 1.2], [2.3, 3.4], floor) # [1.2]
difference_by([{ 'x': 2 }, { 'x': 1 }], [{ 'x': 1 }], lambda v : v['x']) # [ { x: 2 } ]

17. Chained function call

You can call multiple functions inside a single line.

def add(a, b):
    return a + b

def subtract(a, b):
    return a - b

a, b = 4, 5
print((subtract if a > b else add)(a, b)) # 9

18. Has duplicates

The following method checks whether a list has duplicate values by using the fact that set() contains only unique elements.

def has_duplicates(lst):
    return len(lst) != len(set(lst))


x = [1,2,3,4,5,5]
y = [1,2,3,4,5]
has_duplicates(x) # True
has_duplicates(y) # False

19. Merge two dictionaries

The following method can be used to merge two dictionaries.

def merge_two_dicts(a, b):
    c = a.copy()   # make a copy of a 
    c.update(b)    # modify keys and values of a with the ones from b
    return c


a = { 'x': 1, 'y': 2}
b = { 'y': 3, 'z': 4}
print(merge_two_dicts(a, b)) # {'y': 3, 'x': 1, 'z': 4}

In Python 3.5 and above, you can also do it like the following:

def merge_dictionaries(a, b)
   return {**a, **b}


a = { 'x': 1, 'y': 2}
b = { 'y': 3, 'z': 4}
print(merge_dictionaries(a, b)) # {'y': 3, 'x': 1, 'z': 4}

20. Convert two lists into a dictionary

The following method can be used to convert two lists into a dictionary.

def to_dictionary(keys, values):
    return dict(zip(keys, values))


keys = ["a", "b", "c"]    
values = [2, 3, 4]
print(to_dictionary(keys, values)) # {'a': 2, 'c': 4, 'b': 3}

21. Use enumerate

This snippet shows that you can use enumerate to get both the values and the indexes of lists.

list = ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
for index, element in enumerate(list): 
    print("Value", element, "Index ", index, )
# ('Value', 'a', 'Index ', 0)
# ('Value', 'b', 'Index ', 1)
#('Value', 'c', 'Index ', 2)
# ('Value', 'd', 'Index ', 3)

22. Time spent

This snippet can be used to calculate the time it takes to execute a particular code.

import time

start_time = time.time()

a = 1
b = 2
c = a + b
print(c) #3

end_time = time.time()
total_time = end_time - start_time
print("Time: ", total_time)

# ('Time: ', 1.1205673217773438e-05)

23. Try else

You can have an else clause as part of a try/except block, which is executed if no exception is thrown.

try:
    2*3
except TypeError:
    print("An exception was raised")
else:
    print("Thank God, no exceptions were raised.")

#Thank God, no exceptions were raised.

24. Most frequent

This method returns the most frequent element that appears in a list.

def most_frequent(list):
    return max(set(list), key = list.count)


numbers = [1,2,1,2,3,2,1,4,2]
most_frequent(numbers)

25. Palindrome

This method checks whether a given string is a palindrome.

def palindrome(a):
    return a == a[::-1]


palindrome('mom') # True

26. Calculator without if-else

The following snippet shows how you can write a simple calculator without the need to use if-else conditions.

import operator
action = {
    "+": operator.add,
    "-": operator.sub,
    "/": operator.truediv,
    "*": operator.mul,
    "**": pow
}
print(action['-'](50, 25)) # 25

27. Shuffle

This snippet can be used to randomize the order of the elements in a list. Note that shuffle works in place, and returns None.

from random import shuffle

foo = [1, 2, 3, 4]
shuffle(foo) 
print(foo) # [1, 4, 3, 2] , foo = [1, 2, 3, 4]

28. Spread

This method flattens a list similarly like [].concat(…arr) in JavaScript.

def spread(arg):
    ret = []
    for i in arg:
        if isinstance(i, list):
            ret.extend(i)
        else:
            ret.append(i)
    return ret


spread([1,2,3,[4,5,6],[7],8,9]) # [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]

29. Swap values

A really quick way for swapping two variables without having to use an additional one.

a, b = -1, 14
a, b = b, a

print(a) # 14
print(b) # -1

30. Get default value for missing keys

This snippet shows how you can get a default value in case a key you are looking for is not included in the dictionary.

d = {'a': 1, 'b': 2}

print(d.get('c', 3)) # 3

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