30 Minimal Python Tasks and Code Snippets for Beginners

The article provides a collection of thirty minimal Python tasks that serve both beginners learning the language and experienced developers looking for handy one‑liners.

1. Duplicate Element Check

Check whether a list contains duplicate elements using set() to remove duplicates.

def all_unique(lst):
    return len(lst) == len(set(lst))

x = [1,1,2,2,3,2,3,4,5,6]
y = [1,2,3,4,5]
print(all_unique(x))  # False
print(all_unique(y))  # True

2. Character Composition Check (Anagram)

Determine if two strings consist of the same characters using collections.Counter.

from collections import Counter

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

print(anagram("abcd3", "3acdb"))  # True

3. Memory Usage

Show the memory size of a variable with sys.getsizeof.

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

4. Byte Size of a String

Calculate the number of bytes a string occupies when encoded in UTF‑8.

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

print(byte_size(''))           # 0
print(byte_size('Hello World'))  # 11

5. Print a String N Times Without a Loop

Use multiplication of a string to repeat it.

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

6. Capitalize First Letter of Each Word

Apply the title() method.

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

7. List Chunking

Split a list into chunks of a given size.

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))))

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

8. Compact (Remove Falsy Values)

Filter out False, None, 0, empty strings, etc.

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

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

9. Merge Two Dictionaries

Combine dictionaries using copy() and update() or the unpacking syntax.

def merge_two_dicts(a, b):
    c = a.copy()
    c.update(b)
    return c

a = {'x':1,'y':2}
b = {'y':3,'z':4}
print(merge_two_dicts(a,b))  # {'x': 1, 'y': 3, 'z': 4}

# Python 3.5+ alternative

def merge_dictionaries(a, b):
    return {**a, **b}

print(merge_dictionaries(a,b))  # {'x': 1, 'y': 3, 'z': 4}

10. Convert Two Lists to a Dictionary

Use zip and dict.

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}

11. Enumerate a List

Iterate with index and value.

lst = ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
for index, element in enumerate(lst):
    print("Value", element, "Index", index)
# Output:
# Value a Index 0
# Value b Index 1
# Value c Index 2
# Value d Index 3

12. Measure Execution Time

Use time.time() before and after the code block.

import time
start_time = time.time()
# code to measure
c = 1 + 2
print(c)
end_time = time.time()
print("Time:", end_time - start_time)

13. Try/Else Block

Run else when no exception occurs.

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

14. Most Frequent Element

Find the element that appears most often.

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

lst = [1,2,1,2,3,2,1,4,2]
print(most_frequent(lst))  # 2

15. Palindrome Check

Ignore case and non‑alphabetic characters.

import re

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

print(palindrome('taco cat'))  # True

16. Operator‑Based Calculator Without If‑Else

Map symbols to functions in a dictionary.

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

17. Shuffle a List (Fisher‑Yates)

Randomly reorder elements.

from copy import deepcopy
from random import randint

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

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

18. Swap Two Variables

Exchange values without a temporary variable.

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

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

19. Dictionary Default Value

Use dict.get with a fallback.

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

The collection covers a broad range of everyday Python operations, offering ready‑to‑copy snippets that illustrate concise, idiomatic solutions.