Comprehensive Python Cheatsheet

Main

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

List

<list>[from_inclusive : to_exclusive : step_size]
<list>.append(<el>)
<list>.extend(<list>)
<list>.sort()
<list>.reverse()
<list> = sorted(<list>)
<iter> = reversed(<list>)

sum_of_elements  = sum(<list>)
elementwise_sum  = [sum(pair) for pair in zip(list_a, list_b)]
sorted_by_second = sorted(<list>, key=lambda el: el[1])
sorted_by_both   = sorted(<list>, key=lambda el: (el[1], el[0]))
flattened_list   = [item for sublist in <list> for item in sublist]
list_of_chars    = list(<str>)

index = <list>.index(<el>)  # Returns first index of item. 
<list>.insert(index, <el>)  # Inserts item at index and moves the rest to the right.
<el> = <list>.pop([index])  # Removes and returns item at index or from the end.
<list>.remove(<el>)         # Removes first occurrence of item.
<list>.clear()              # Removes all items.   

Dictionary

<dict>.items()
<dict>.get(key, default)
<dict>.setdefault(key, default)
<dict>.update(<dict>)

collections.defaultdict(<type>)  # Creates a dictionary with default values.
collections.OrderedDict()        # Creates ordered dictionary.
dict(<list>)                     # Initiates a dict from list of key/value pairs.
dict(zip(keys, values))          # Initiates a dict from two lists.
{k: v for k, v in <dict>.items() if k in <list>}  # Filters a dict by keys.

Counter

>>> from collections import Counter
>>> z = ['blue', 'red', 'blue', 'yellow', 'blue', 'red']
>>> Counter(z)
Counter({'blue': 3, 'red': 2, 'yellow': 1})

Set

<set> = set()
<set>.add(<el>)
<set>.update(<set>)
<set>.union(<set>)
<set>.intersection(<set>)
<set>.difference(<set>)
<set>.issubset(<set>)
<set>.issuperset(<set>)

Frozenset

Is hashable and can be used as a key in dictionary:

<frozenset> = frozenset()

Range

range(to_exclusive)
range(from_inclusive, to_exclusive)
range(from_inclusive, to_exclusive, step_size)
range(from_inclusive, to_exclusive, -step_size)

Enumerate

for i, <el> in enumerate(<collection> [, i_start])

Named Tuple

>>> Point = collections.namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])
>>> a = Point(1, y=2)
Point(x=1, y=2)
>>> a.x
1
>>> getattr(a, 'y')
2
>>> Point._fields
('x', 'y')

Iterator

Skips first element:

next(<iter>)
for element in <iter>:
    ...

Reads input until it reaches an empty line:

for line in iter(input, ''):
    ...

Same, but prints a message every time:

from functools import partial
for line in iter(partial(input, 'Please enter value'), ''):
    ...

Generator

def step(start, step):
    while True:
        yield start
        start += step

stepper = step(10, 2)
next(stepper)  # 10 (, 12, 14, ...)

Type

type(<el>)  # <class 'int'> / <class 'str'> / ...

import numbers
isinstance(<el>, numbers.Number)  # Integral, Real, Rational, Complex

String

<str>  = <str>.replace(old_str, new_str)
<list> = <str>.split(sep=None, maxsplit=-1)
<str>  = <str>.strip([chars])
<str>  = <str>.join(<list>)
<bool> = <str>.startswith(<str>)  # Pass tuple of strings for multiple options.
<bool> = <str>.endswith(<str>)  # Pass tuple of strings for multiple options.
<bool> = <str>.isnumeric()  # True if str contains only numeric characters.

Print

print(<el> [, <el>, end='', sep='', file=<file>])  # Use 'file=sys.stderr' for err.

Regex

import re
re.sub(<regex>, new, text, count=0)  # Substitutes all occurrences.
re.search(<regex>, text)  # Searches for first occurrence of pattern.
re.match(<regex>, text)   # Searches only at the beginning of the string.
re.findall(<regex>, text)
re.split(<regex>, text, maxsplit=0)  # Use brackets in regex to keep the matches.

• 'Search' and 'match' functions return a 'Match' object. Use '.group()' method on it to get the whole match, or '.group(1)' to get the part in first bracket.
• Parameter 'flags=re.IGNORECASE' can be used with all functions. Parameter 'flags=re.DOTALL' makes dot also accept newline.
• Use '\\1' or r'\1' for backreference.
• Use ? to make operators non-greedy.

Special Sequences:

# Use capital letter for negation.
'\d' == '[0-9]'          # Digit
'\s' == '[ \t\n\r\f\v]'  # Whitespace
'\w' == '[a-zA-Z0-9_]'   # Alphanumeric

Format

'{}'.format(<el> [, <el>, ...])

{:min_width}   # '<el>    '
{:>min_width}  # '    <el>'
{:^min_width}  # '  <el>  '
{:_<min_width} # '<el>____'
{:.max_width}  # '<e>'
{:max_width.min_width}        # '    <e>'
{:max_width.no_of_decimalsf}  # '   3.14'

>>> person = {'name': 'Jean-Luc', 'height': 187.1}
>>> '{p[height]:.0f}'.format(p=person)
'187'
>>> f"{person['height']:.0f}"
'187'

Binary, at least 10 spaces wide, filled with zeros:

>>> f'{123:010b}'
'0001111011'

Integer presentation types:

• b - Binary
• c - Character
• o - Octal
• x - Hex
• X - HEX

Text Wrap

import textwrap
textwrap.wrap(text, width)

Numbers

Basic functions

round(<num>[, ndigits])
abs(<num>)
math.pow(x, y)   # == x**y

Constants

from math import e, pi

Trigonometry

from math import cos, acos, sin, asin, tan, atan, degrees, radians

Logarithm

from math import log, log10, log2
log(x[, base])  # Base e, if not specified.
log10(x)        # Base 10
log2(x)         # Base 2

Infinity, nan

float('inf')
float('nan')
from math import inf, nan, isfinite, isinf, isnan

Random

import random
random.random()
random.randint(from_inclusive, to_inclusive)
random.shuffle(<list>)
random.choice(<list>)

Datetime

import datetime
now = datetime.datetime.now()
now.month                      # 3
now.strftime('%Y%m%d')         # '20180315'
now.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')   # '20180315002834'

Arguments

"*" is the splat operator, that takes a list as input, and expands it into actual positional arguments in the function call:

args = (1, 2)
kwargs = {'x': 3, 'y': 4, 'z': 5}
func(*args, **kwargs)  

Is the same as:

func(1, 2, x=3, y=4, z=5)

Splat operator can also be used in function declarations:

>>> def add(*a):
...     return sum(a)
>>> add(1, 2, 3)
6

And in some other places:

>>> a = (1, 2, 3)
>>> [*a]
[1, 2, 3]

>>> head, *body, tail = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> body
[2, 3]

Inline

Lambda

lambda: <return_value>
lambda <argument1>, <argument2>: <return_value>

Comprehension

[i+1 for i in range(10)]       # [1, 2, ..., 10]
[i for i in range(10) if i>5]  # [6, 7, ..., 9]
{i: i*2 for i in range(10)}    # {0: 0, 1: 2, ..., 9: 18}
(x+5 for x in range(0, 10))    # (5, 6, ..., 14) -> Generator

[i+j for i in range(10) for j in range(10)]

Is the same as:

out = []
for i in range(10):
    for j in range(10):
        out.append(i+j)

Map, Filter, Reduce

map(lambda x: x+1, range(10))     # [1, 2, ..., 10]
filter(lambda x: x>5, range(10))  # [6, 7, ..., 9]
functools.reduce(lambda sum, x: sum+x, range(10))  # 45

Any, All

any(el[1] for el in <collection>)

If - Else

<expression_if_true> if <condition> else <expression_if_false>

>>> [a if a else 2 for a in [0, 1, 0, 3]]
[2, 1, 2, 3]

Namedtuple, Enum, Class

from collections import namedtuple
Point = namedtuple('Point', list('xy'))

from enum import Enum
Direction = Enum('Direction', list('nesw'))

Creature = type('Creature', (), {'position': Point(0, 0), 'direction': Direction.n})

Closure

def multiply_closure(x):
    def wrapped(y):
        return x * y
    return wrapped 

multiply_by_3 = multiply_closure(3)

Or:

from functools import partial
partial(<function>, <arg1> [, <arg2>, ...])

Decorator

@closure_name
def function_that_gets_passed_to_closure():
    pass

Debugger example:

from functools import wraps

def debug(func):
    @wraps(func)  # Needed for metadata copying (func name, ...).
    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        print(func.__name__)
        return func(*args, **kwargs)
    return wrapper

@debug
def add(x, y):
    return x + y

Class

class <name>:
    def __init__(self, a):
        self.a = a
    def __repr__(self):
        return str({'a': self.a})
        # Use f'{s.__dict__}' for all members.
    def __str__(self):
        return str(self.a)

    @classmethod
    def get_class_name(cls):
        return cls.__name__

Enum

from enum import Enum, auto
class <enum_name>(Enum):
    <name_1> = <value1>  
    <name_2> = <value2>, <value2_b>
    <name_3> = auto()   # Can be used for automatic indexing.
    ...

   @classmethod
   def get_names(cls):
      return [a.name for a in cls.__members__.values()]

   @classmethod
   def get_values(cls):
      return [a.value for a in cls.__members__.values()]

<enum>  = <enum_name>.<name>
<enum>  = <enum_name>['<name>']
<enum>  = <enum_name>(value)
<name>  = <enum>.name
<value> = <enum>.value

Cutlery = Enum('Cutlery', ['knife', 'fork', 'spoon'])
Cutlery = Enum('Cutlery', {'knife': 1, 'fork': 2, 'spoon': 3})
list(<enum_name>)                 # == [<enum1>, <enum2>, ...]
random.choice(list(<enum_name>))  # == random <enum>

Copy

import copy
copy.copy(<object>)
copy.deepcopy(<object>)

System

Arguments

import sys
script_name = sys.argv[0]
arguments = sys.argv[1:]

Read File

def read_file(filename):
    with open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as file:
        return file.readlines()

Write to File

def write_to_file(filename, text):
    with open(filename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        file.write(text)

Path

import os
os.path.exists(<path>)
os.path.isfile(<path>)
os.path.isdir(<path>)
os.listdir(<path>)

Execute Command

import os
os.popen(<command>).read()

Or:

>>> import subprocess
>>> a = subprocess.run(['ls', '-a'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
>>> a.stdout
b'.\n..\nfile1.txt\nfile2.txt\n'
>>> a.returncode
0

Input

filename = input('Enter a file name: ')

Prints lines until EOF:

while True:
    try:
        print(input())
    except EOFError:
        break

JSON

import json

Serialization

<str> = json.dumps(<object>, ensure_ascii=True, indent=None)
<dict> = json.loads(<str>)

To preserve order:

from collections import OrderedDict
<dict> = json.loads(<str>, object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)

Read File

def read_json_file(filename):
    with open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as file:
        return json.load(file)

Write to File

def write_to_json_file(filename, an_object):
    with open(filename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        json.dump(an_object, file, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2)

SQLite

import sqlite3
db = sqlite3.connect(<filename>)

Read

cursor = db.execute(<query>)
if cursor:
    cursor.fetchall()  # Or cursor.fetchone()
db.close()

Write

db.execute(<query>)
db.commit()

Exceptions

while True:
    try:
        x = int(input('Please enter a number: '))
    except ValueError:
        print('Oops!  That was no valid number.  Try again...')
    else:
        print('Thank you.')
        break

Raise exception

raise IOError("input/output error")

Threading

import threading

Thread

thread = threading.Thread(target=<function>, args=(<first_arg>, ))
thread.start()
thread.join()

Lock

lock = threading.Rlock()
lock.acquire()
lock.release()

Itertools

Every function returns a generator and can accept any collection. If you want to print an output of generator, as in examples, you need to pass it to the list() function.

from itertools import *

Chain

>>> chain([1, 2], range(3, 5))
[1, 2, 3, 4]

Combinations

>>> combinations('abc', 2)
[('a', 'b'), ('a', 'c'), ('b', 'c')]

Permutations

>>> permutations('abc', 2)
[('a', 'b'), ('a', 'c'), ('b', 'a'), ('b', 'c'), ('c', 'a'), ('c', 'b')]

Product

>>> list(product('ab', [1, 2]))
[('a', 1), ('a', 2), ('b', 1), ('b', 2)]

Compress

>>> compress('abc', [True, 0, 23])
['a', 'c']

Count

>>> i = count(5, 2)
>>> next(i), next(i)
(5, 7)

Cycle

>>> a = cycle('abc')
>>> [next(a) for _ in range(10)]
['a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'a']

Groupby

>>> a = [{'id': 1, 'name': 'bob'}, 
         {'id': 2, 'name': 'bob'}, 
         {'id': 3, 'name': 'peter'}]
>>> {k: list(v) for k, v in groupby(a, key=lambda x: x['name'])}
{'bob': [{'id': 1, 'name': 'bob'}, 
         {'id': 2, 'name': 'bob'}], 
 'peter': [{'id': 3, 'name': 'peter'}]}

Islice

islice([1, 2, 3], 1, None)
[2, 3]

Ifilter, imap and izip

Filter, map and zip functions that return generators instead of iterators.

Introspection and Metaprograming

Inspecting code at runtime and code that generates code. You can:

• Look at the attributes
• Set new attributes
• Create functions dynamically
• Traverse the parent classes
• Change values in the class

Variables

<list> = dir()      # In scope variables.
<dict> = globals()  # Global variables.
<dict> = locals()   # Local variables.

Attributes

>>> class Z:
...     def __init__(self):
...             self.a = 'abcde'
...             self.b = 12345
>>> z = Z()

>>> getattr(z, 'a')  # Same as Z.__getattribute__(z, 'a')
'abcde'

>>> hasattr(z, 'c')
False

>>> setattr(z, 'c', 10)

Type

Type is the root class. If only passed the object it returns it's type. Otherwise it creates a new class (and not the instance!):

type(class_name, parents<tuple>, attributes<dict>)

>>> Z = type('Z', (), {'a': 'abcde', 'b': 12345})
>>> z = Z()

MetaClass

Class that creates class:

def my_meta_class(name, parents, attrs):
    ...
    return type(name, parents, attrs)

Or:

class MyMetaClass(type):
    def __new__(klass, name, parents, attrs):
        ...
        return type.__new__(klass, name, parents, attrs)

Metaclass Attribute

When class is created it checks if it has metaclass defined. If not, it recursively checks if any of his parents has it defined, and eventually comes to type:

class BlaBla:
    __metaclass__ = Bla

Eval

Basic

>>> import ast
>>> ast.literal_eval('1 + 1')
2
>>> ast.literal_eval('[1, 2, 3]')
[1, 2, 3]

Detailed

import ast
import operator as op

# Supported operators
operators = {ast.Add: op.add, ast.Sub: op.sub, ast.Mult: op.mul,
             ast.Div: op.truediv, ast.Pow: op.pow, ast.BitXor: op.xor,
             ast.USub: op.neg}

def eval_expr(expr):
    return eval_(ast.parse(expr, mode='eval').body)

def eval_(node):
    if isinstance(node, ast.Num):  # <number>
        return node.n
    elif isinstance(node, ast.BinOp):  # <left> <operator> <right>
        return operators[type(node.op)](eval_(node.left), eval_(node.right))
    elif isinstance(node, ast.UnaryOp):  # <operator> <operand> e.g., -1
        return operators[type(node.op)](eval_(node.operand))
    else:
        raise TypeError(node)

>>> eval_expr('2^6')
4
>>> eval_expr('2**6')
64
>>> eval_expr('1 + 2*3**(4^5) / (6 + -7)')
-5.0

Coroutine

• Similar to Generator, but Generator pulls data through the pipe with iteration, while Coroutine pushes data into the pipeline with send().
• Coroutines provide more powerful data routing possibilities than iterators.
• If you built a collection of simple data processing components, you can glue them together into complex arrangements of pipes, branches, merging, etc.

Helper Decorator

• All coroutines must be "primed" by first calling .next()
• Remembering to call .next() is easy to forget.
• Solved by wrapping coroutines with a decorator:

def coroutine(func):
    def start(*args, **kwargs):
        cr = func(*args, **kwargs)
        next(cr)
        return cr
    return start

Pipeline Example

def reader(target):
    for i in range(10):
        target.send(i)
    target.close()

@coroutine
def adder(target):
    while True:
        item = (yield)
        target.send(item + 100)

@coroutine
def printer():
    while True:
        item = (yield)
        print(item)

reader(adder(printer()))

Libraries

Plot

# $ pip3 install matplotlib
from matplotlib import pyplot
pyplot.plot(<data> [, <data>])
pyplot.show()
pyplot.savefig(<filename>, transparent=True)

Table

# $ pip3 install tabulate
import csv
from tabulate import tabulate
with open(<filename>, newline='') as csv_file:
    reader = csv.reader(csv_file, delimiter=';')
    headers = [a.title() for a in next(reader)]
    print(tabulate(reader, headers))

UrlLib

Translate special characters

import urllib.parse
<str> = urllib.parse.quote_plus(<str>)

Web

# $ pip3 install bottle
import bottle
import urllib

Run

bottle.run(host='localhost', port=8080)
bottle.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=80, server='cherrypy')

Static request

@route('/img/<image>')
def send_image(image):
    return static_file(image, 'images/', mimetype='image/png')

Dynamic request

@route('/<sport>')
def send_page(sport):
    sport = urllib.parse.unquote(sport).lower()
    page = read_file(sport)
    return template(page)

REST request

@post('/p/<sport>')
def p_handler(sport):
    team = request.forms.get('team')
    team = urllib.parse.unquote(team).lower()

    db = sqlite3.connect(conf.DB_PATH)
    p_h, p_a = get_p(db, sport, team)
    db.close()

    response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
    response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'no-cache'
    return json.dumps([p_h, p_a])

Curses

# $ pip3 install curses
import curses

def main():
    curses.wrapper(draw)

def draw(screen):
    screen.clear()
    screen.addstr(0, 0, 'Press ESC to quit.')
    while screen.getch() != 27:
        pass

def get_border(screen):
    Coords = collections.namedtuple('Coords', ['x', 'y'])
    height, width = screen.getmaxyx()
    return Coords(width - 1, height - 1)

Gets char from int:

<ch> = chr(<int>)
<int> = ord(<ch>)

Profile

Basic:

from time import time
start_time = time()
<code>
duration = time() - start_time

Times execution of the passed code:

from timeit import timeit
timeit('"-".join(str(n) for n in range(100))', number=1000000, , globals=globals())

Generates a PNG image of call graph and highlights the bottlenecks:

# $ pip3 install pycallgraph
import pycallgraph
graph = pycallgraph.output.GraphvizOutput()
graph.output_file = get_filename()
with pycallgraph.PyCallGraph(output=graph):
    <code_to_be_profiled>

Utility code for unique PNG filenames:

def get_filename():
    time_str = get_current_datetime_string()
    return f'profile-{time_str}.png'

def get_current_datetime_string():
    now = datetime.datetime.now()
    return get_datetime_string(now)

def get_datetime_string(a_datetime):
    return a_datetime.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')

Audio

Saves list of floats of size 0 to 1 to a WAV file:

import wave, struct
frames = [struct.pack('%dh'%(1), int((a-0.5)*60000)) for a in <list>]
wf = wave.open(<filename>, 'wb')
wf.setnchannels(1)
wf.setsampwidth(4)
wf.setframerate(44100)
wf.writeframes(b''.join(frames))
wf.close()

Progress Bar

Basic:

import sys

class Bar():
    @staticmethod
    def range(*args):
        bar = Bar(len(list(range(*args))))
        for i in range(*args):
            yield i 
            bar.tick()
    @staticmethod
    def foreach(elements):
        bar = Bar(len(elements))
        for el in elements:
            yield el
            bar.tick()
    def __init__(s, steps, width=40):
        s.st, s.wi, s.fl, s.i = steps, width, 0, 0
        s.th = s.fl * s.st / s.wi
        s.p(f"[{' ' * s.wi}]")
        s.p('\b' * (s.wi + 1))
    def tick(s):
        s.i += 1
        while s.i > s.th:
            s.fl += 1
            s.th = s.fl * s.st / s.wi
            s.p('-')
        if s.i == s.st:
            s.p('\n')
    def p(s, t):
        sys.stdout.write(t)
        sys.stdout.flush()

Usage:

from time import sleep
# Range:
for i in Bar.range(100):
    sleep(0.02)
# Foreach:
for el in Bar.foreach(['a', 'b', 'c']):
    sleep(0.02)

Progress:

# $ pip3 install progress
from progress.bar import Bar
from time import sleep
STEPS = 100
bar = Bar('Processing', max=STEPS)
for i in range(STEPS):
    sleep(0.02)
    bar.next()
bar.finish()

Basic Script Template

# Linux:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# Mac:
#!/usr/local/bin/python3
#
# Usage: .py 
# 

from collections import namedtuple
from enum import Enum
import re
import sys


def main():
    pass
    

###
##  UTIL
#

def read_file(filename):
    with open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as file:
        return file.readlines()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()