30 Helpful Python Snippets You Can Learn in 30 Seconds

The article introduces a collection of thirty short Python snippets designed to help learners practice real‑world tasks quickly, each accompanied by a brief explanation.

1. Duplicate element detection : def all_unique(lst): return len(lst) == len(set(lst)) returns False for a list with repeats and True otherwise.

2. Anagram check :

from collections import Counter

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

verifies whether two strings contain the same characters.

3. Memory size of an integer :

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

4. Byte size of a string :

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

byte_size('Hello World')  # 11

5. Print a string N times without a loop :

n = 2
s = "Programming"
print(s * n)  # ProgrammingProgramming

6. Capitalize first letter of each word :

s = "programming is awesome"
print(s.title())  # Programming Is Awesome

7. Chunk a list into fixed‑size pieces :

from math import ceil

def chunk(lst, size):
    return list(map(lambda x: lst[x*size:x*size+size], range(0, ceil(len(lst)/size))))

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

8. Remove falsy values :

def compact(lst):
    return list(filter(bool, lst))

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

9. Unzip a list of pairs :

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

10. List difference :

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

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

11. Difference by applying a function :

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

difference_by([2.1,1.2], [2.3,3.4], floor)  # [1.2]

12. Chained comparison :

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

13. Join list elements with commas :

hobbies = ["basketball","football","swimming"]
print("My hobbies are: " + ", ".join(hobbies))
# My hobbies are: basketball, football, swimming

14. Count vowels using regex :

import re

def count_vowels(s):
    return len(re.findall(r'[aeiou]', s, re.IGNORECASE))

count_vowels('foobar')  # 3

15. Lowercase first character :

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

decapitalize('FooBar')  # 'fooBar'

16. Flatten a nested list :

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

def deep_flatten(lst):
    result = []
    result.extend(spread(list(map(lambda x: deep_flatten(x) if type(x) == list else x, lst))))
    return result

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

17. List elements not present in another list :

def difference(a, b):
    return list(set(a).difference(set(b)))

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

18. Find most frequent element :

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

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

19. Palindrome check :

import re

def palindrome(string):
    s = re.sub(r'[\W_]', '', string.lower())
    return s == s[::-1]

palindrome('taco cat')  # True

20. Operator dictionary for arithmetic without if‑else :

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

21. Shuffle a list (Fisher‑Yates) :

from copy import deepcopy
from random import randint

def shuffle(lst):
    temp = deepcopy(lst)
    m = len(temp)
    while m:
        m -= 1
        i = randint(0, m)
        temp[m], temp[i] = temp[i], temp[m]
    return temp

shuffle([1,2,3])  # e.g., [2,3,1]

22. Measure execution time :

import time
start = time.time()
# code to measure
end = time.time()
print('Time:', end - start)

23. Try/except with else clause :

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

24. Most common element (frequency) :

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

25. Convert two lists to 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, 'b': 3, 'c': 4}

26. Enumerate list with index :

lst = ["a","b","c","d"]
for index, element in enumerate(lst):
    print("Value", element, "Index", index)

27. Measure code execution time : (see snippet 22).

28. Swap two variables without a temporary variable :

def swap(a, b):
    return b, a

a, b = -1, 14
print(swap(a, b))  # (14, -1)

29. Dictionary get with default value :

d = {'a': 1, 'b': 2}
print(d.get('c', 3))  # 3

These snippets provide quick, ready‑to‑use solutions for everyday Python programming challenges, making them valuable for both learning and rapid development.