12 Essential Python Snippets Every Developer Should Know

In this article I share 12 Python pro snippets that make you feel like a professional developer.

1. Multi-Argument Function

Python allows functions to accept an arbitrary number of positional arguments using *args.

# Multi Arg Function
def test(*arg):
    print(arg)  # (1, 3, 60, 23, 435)

test(1, 3, 60, 23, 435)

2. Multiple Input

You can read several values from a single input line and split them into separate variables.

# Multiple Input
x, y, z = input("Enter data: ").split()
print(x, y, z)

3. Time.sleep

The time module’s sleep function pauses execution for a given number of seconds.

# Sleep example
import time
for x in range(1, 10):
    print(x)
    time.sleep(5)  # pause 5 seconds

4. Pro Swapping

Swap two variables without a temporary variable using tuple unpacking.

# Pro Swapping
v1 = 10
v2 = 20
# Pro way
v1, v2 = v2, v1
print(v1, v2)  # 20 10

5. Fetch Vowels

Extract all vowel characters from a string using a list comprehension.

# Fetch Vowels
def fetch_vowels(data):
    return [x for x in data if x in 'aeiou']

print(fetch_vowels("World of Coding"))  # ['o', 'o', 'o', 'i']
print(fetch_vowels("Program"))          # ['o', 'a']

6. Find Most Frequent Value

Identify the most common element in a list using max with set and count.

# Find most frequent
def most_frequent(lst):
    return max(set(lst), key=lst.count)

test = [10,10,20,20,10,30,30,30,20,10]
print(most_frequent(test))  # 10

7. Hidden Password Input

Use the getpass module to read a password without echoing it to the console.

# Hidden Password
import getpass
password = getpass.getpass('Type Password: ')
print(password)

8. Reset Recursion Limit

Adjust Python’s recursion depth limit with sys.setrecursionlimit.

# Reset recursion limit
import sys
print(sys.getrecursionlimit())  # 1000
sys.setrecursionlimit(1010)
print(sys.getrecursionlimit())  # 1010

9. Print a String Multiple Times

Multiply a string by an integer to repeat it without a loop.

# K times Strings
py = "GoPython "
print(py * 3)  # GoPython GoPython GoPython
print(py * 5)  # GoPython GoPython GoPython GoPython GoPython

10. Reverse List Using Method

Use the built‑in list.reverse() method to invert a list in place.

# Reverse list with method
mylist = ["X", "Y", "Z"]
mylist.reverse()
print(mylist)  # ['Z', 'Y', 'X']

11. Generate Random Number

Use the random module to obtain random integers within a specified range.

# Generate Random Number
import random
print(random.randint(1, 10))
print(random.randint(5, 30))
print(random.randint(91, 230))

12. Get Python Version at Runtime

Retrieve the current Python interpreter version using the platform module.

# Get Python Version on Runtime
import platform
print(platform.python_version())  # e.g., 3.9.7

Hope you find these snippets useful; feel free to share them with fellow Python enthusiasts.