Helpful Python Tools & Snippets

Helpful Python Tools & Snippets

This page contains a collection of useful Python tools, libraries, and code snippets for quick reference.

1. Fix Indentation Errors (e.g., TabError)

Using `autopep8`

autopep8 can automatically fix indentation issues, including the dreaded:

TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation

Install and run:

pip install autopep8
autopep8 --in-place --aggressive --aggressive your_script.py

--in-place edits the file directly.
--aggressive runs multiple formatting passes for better cleanup.

Using `black` (opinionated formatter)

pip install black
black your_script.py

Black will enforce consistent 4-space indentation and clean up formatting.

Quick Python script to replace tabs with spaces

from pathlib import Path

def fix_indentation(file_path, spaces_per_tab=4):
    content = Path(file_path).read_text()
    fixed = content.replace("\t", " " * spaces_per_tab)
    Path(file_path).write_text(fixed)
    print(f"Indentation fixed for {file_path}")

# Example usage
fix_indentation("your_script.py")

2. Simple HTTP Server

Serve files from the current directory:

python3 -m http.server 8080

3. Virtual Environment Setup

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
.venv\Scripts\activate   # Windows

4. JSON Pretty Print

From the command line:

python3 -m json.tool input.json

From Python code:

import json

data = {"name": "Alice", "age": 30}
print(json.dumps(data, indent=4))

5. One-liner Web Scraping with Requests & BeautifulSoup

pip install requests beautifulsoup4

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

url = "https://example.com"
soup = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(url).text, "html.parser")
print(soup.title.string)

6. Simple File Search (like grep in Python)

from pathlib import Path

def search_in_files(directory, text):
    for path in Path(directory).rglob("*.*"):
        try:
            if text in path.read_text(errors="ignore"):
                print(path)
        except:
            pass

search_in_files(".", "search_term")

7. Quick One-liner to Check for Port Availability

import socket

def check_port(host, port):
    with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
        return s.connect_ex((host, port)) == 0

print(check_port("127.0.0.1", 22))

8. Python REPL with Tab Completion

python3 -m rlcompleter

Or add to ~/.pythonrc:

import rlcompleter, readline
readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")

9. Running Python from Clipboard

xclip -o -selection clipboard | python3

On Windows:

Get-Clipboard | python

Tip: Keep this page updated as you find more useful tools and tricks.

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