13 Advanced Python Scripts for Everyday Tasks

Every day developers encounter challenges that require more than basic Python syntax; this guide shares thirteen advanced Python scripts that serve as handy tools for various projects.

1. Speed Test using Python

This script tests Internet speed using the speedtest or pyspeedtest modules.

# pip install pyspeedtest
# pip install speedtest
# pip install speedtest-cli
# method 1
import speedtest
speedTest = speedtest.Speedtest()
print(speedTest.get_best_server())
print(speedTest.download())
print(speedTest.upload())
# Method 2
import pyspeedtest
st = pyspeedtest.SpeedTest()
st.ping()
st.download()
st.upload()

2. Google Search

Extract redirected URLs from Google using the googlesearch module.

# pip install google
from googlesearch import search
query = "Medium.com"
for url in search(query):
    print(url)

3. Web Bot Creation

Automate any website with Selenium.

# pip install selenium
import time
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
bot = webdriver.Chrome("chromedriver.exe")
bot.get('http://www.google.com')
search = bot.find_element_by_name('q')
search.send_keys("@codedev101")
search.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)
time.sleep(5)
bot.quit()

4. Retrieve Song Lyrics

Fetch lyrics using the lyricsgenius API.

# pip install lyricsgenius
import lyricsgenius
api_key = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
genius = lyricsgenius.Genius(api_key)
artist = genius.search_artist("Pop Smoke", max_songs=5, sort="title")
song = artist.song("100k On a Coupe")
print(song.lyrics)

5. Get Photo EXIF Data

Extract EXIF metadata from images with Pillow or ExifRead.

# Get Exif of Photo
# Method 1
# pip install pillow
import PIL.Image
import PIL.ExifTags
img = PIL.Image.open("Img.jpg")
exif_data = {PIL.ExifTags.TAGS[i]: j for i, j in img._getexif().items() if i in PIL.ExifTags.TAGS}
print(exif_data)
# Method 2
# pip install ExifRead
import exifread
filename = open(path_name, 'rb')
tags = exifread.process_file(filename)
print(tags)

6. OCR Text Extraction

Convert scanned images to text using Tesseract OCR.

# pip install pytesseract
import pytesseract
from PIL import Image
pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = r'C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe'
img = Image.open("img.png")
text = pytesseract.image_to_string(img, config='')
print(text)

7. Image Cartonize

Transform photos into a cartoon style with OpenCV.

# pip install opencv-python
import cv2
img = cv2.imread('img.jpg')
grayimg = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
grayimg = cv2.medianBlur(grayimg, 5)
edges = cv2.Laplacian(grayimg, cv2.CV_8U, ksize=5)
r, mask = cv2.threshold(edges, 100, 255, cv2.THRESH_BINARY_INV)
img2 = cv2.bitwise_and(img, img, mask=mask)
img2 = cv2.medianBlur(img2, 5)
cv2.imwrite("cartooned.jpg", mask)

8. Empty Recycle Bin

Clear the Windows recycle bin using winshell.

# pip install winshell
import winshell
try:
    winshell.recycle_bin().empty(confirm=False, show_progress=False, sound=True)
    print("Recycle bin is emptied Now")
except:
    print("Recycle bin already empty")

9. Image Enhancement

Improve photos with Pillow’s enhancement filters.

# pip install pillow
from PIL import Image, ImageFilter, ImageEnhance
im = Image.open('img.jpg')
# Choose your filter
en = ImageEnhance.Color(im)
en = ImageEnhance.Contrast(im)
en = ImageEnhance.Brightness(im)
en = ImageEnhance.Sharpness(im)
en.enhance(1.5).show("enhanced")

10. Get Windows Version

Retrieve the full Windows OS version via WMI.

# Window Version
import wmi
data = wmi.WMI()
for os_name in data.Win32_OperatingSystem():
    print(os_name.Caption)
# Microsoft Windows 11 Home

11. PDF to Images

Convert each page of a PDF into PNG images using PyMuPDF.

# PDF to Images
import fitz
pdf = 'sample_pdf.pdf'
doc = fitz.open(pdf)
for page in doc:
    pix = page.getPixmap(alpha=False)
    pix.writePNG('page-%i.png' % page.number)

12. Hex to RGB Conversion

Simple function to convert hexadecimal color codes to RGB tuples.

# Conversion: Hex to RGB
def Hex_to_Rgb(hex):
    h = hex.lstrip('#')
    return tuple(int(h[i:i+2], 16) for i in (0, 2, 4))
print(Hex_to_Rgb('#c96d9d'))  # (201, 109, 157)
print(Hex_to_Rgb('#fa0515'))  # (250, 5, 21)

13. Website Status Check

Check whether a website is up by retrieving its HTTP status code.

# pip install requests
# method 1
import urllib.request
from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
req = Request('https://medium.com/@pythonians', headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'})
webpage = urlopen(req).getcode()
print(webpage)  # 200
# method 2
import requests
r = requests.get("https://medium.com/@pythonians")
print(r.status_code)  # 200