How Can Python Scripts Help to Automate Your Daily Tasks?

Python is a programming language to create many things with. You can create for example websites or applications, and even use it for Data Analyzation. But its simple syntax and powerful libraries, is one of the best programming languages for creating automation scripts.

Automation with Python can significantly transform the efficiency and effectiveness of any company, project, or personal endeavor. It does not matter if you are a programmer, developer or just someone that wants to make daily tasks easier. By streamlining repetitive and time-consuming tasks, it not only saves valuable time but also reduces the likelihood of human error, leading to more consistent and reliable outcomes. For businesses, this means increased productivity and reduced operational costs. For projects, it ensures timely completion and allows teams to focus on more strategic activities. On a personal level, automating daily tasks can free up time for more creative pursuits or leisure activities. What makes Python particularly unique is its simplicity and versatility, allowing both beginners and seasoned programmers to easily create robust automation solutions tailored to their specific needs. With a rich ecosystem of libraries and a supportive community, Python empowers anyone to harness the power of automation effectively.

In this article, I will share several Python scripts that I’ve used to automate various tasks or have come across with. Anyone that wants to save time and improve efficiency in their work routines would benefit from it.

1. Renaming Files in Bulk

Renaming files one by one can be a time-consuming task, but if you automate this task by using the os module it will be an easy task.

Here’s a simple script that renames multiple files in a folder based on a given pattern:

Name_to_be_Replaced will be the actual name of the folder that needs to be renamed, and New_Name will be it’s new name.

2. Backing Up Files Automatically

Backing up files regularly is an important task, but a time-consuming task. Luckily this task can be easily automated using Python’s shutil module.

 This script will copy all files from one directory to another for backup purposes: 

You can schedule this script to run daily using task-scheduling tools like cron (Linux) or Task Scheduler (Windows).

3. Downloading Files from the Internet

When you frequently download files from the internet it can become a messy thing. But you can automate this task using aiohttp library.

Here’s a simple script to download files from URLs:

This script downloads the file from the 'specified URL' and saves it to your 'specified folder'.

4. Automating Email Reports

Sending email reports regularly is another time-consuming task. Also this task you can automate by using smtplib library, this one will allow you to send emails from a Gmail account easily:

This script is designed to send a basic email with a subject and message to a designated recipient. Ensure that less secure apps are enabled in Gmail if you choose to use this approach.

5. Task Scheduler (Task Automation)

Tasks can be scheduled effortlessly with the schedule library, enabling you to automate activities such as sending emails or executing backup scripts at designated times:

This script will keep running and trigger the assigned tasks at the specified time, in this case, 08:00 AM every day.

6. Web Scraping for Data Collection

Opting for aiohttp to handle asynchronous HTTP requests, rather than using the synchronous requests library, can enhance the efficiency of web scraping.

This example retrieves multiple pages in parallel. 

7. Automating Social Media Posts

If you handle social media accounts, you can automate posts using libraries such as Tweepy (for Twitter) and Instagram-API (for Instagram) to enable automatic posting.

Below the Tweepy library is used an example to post a tweet:

This script posts a tweet with the message “Hello, world! I am a bird!” to your Twitter account.

8. Monitoring Website Uptime

Python is capable of automating website uptime monitoring by utilizing the requests library, which can regularly verify whether a website is accessible or not:

This script checks if the website is online and prints the status code.

9. Auto-Reply to Emails

To set up an automatic email response for Gmail, especially if you frequently receive emails, utilize the imaplib and smtplib libraries for auto-replying:

This script automatically replies to unread emails with a predefined message.

10. File Cleanup

Python offers an efficient method for automating file cleanup, especially for removing or relocating outdated files to keep directories organized.

Below is a simple script that deletes files older than a specified number of days using the os and time modules.

11. Generate Passwords Automatically

Generating strong and unique passwords is crucial for security, and Python can facilitate this process by utilizing the random module.

Presented here is a script designed to create random passwords of a chosen length, including letters, numbers, special symbols, and screening against dictionary words, prohibited words and common passwords to improve security.

12. Task Tracker/Reminder

Creating a task tracker or reminder system in Python can be accomplished using the datetime and asyncio modules.

13. Auto-Generate Daily Reports

Automate daily reports by using Python to collect data and format it into a report:

14. Monitor System Resources

As a system administrator, you have the ability to monitor your system's resources, like CPU and memory usage, using the psutil library in Python. Here's a method to keep an eye on CPU, memory, and disk usage and send email alerts if these metrics exceed defined limits:

15. Network Monitoring

To develop a detailed network monitoring script, you can utilize libraries such as psutil for gathering network statistics and speedtest for conducting speed tests. Below is a Python script designed to track different elements of network performance:

Save the script for example as: monitor_network.py. You can run the script by typing the following in your sh console: python monitor_network.py

16. Automating Data Entry to Excel

If you frequently enter data into Excel, Python can help automate this task with the openpyxl library:

17. Automating Data Cleaning

When handling large datasets, Python can automate data-cleaning tasks by removing empty rows from a CSV file:

18. Automated Log Analysis

This script will generate a Python program to analyze a server log, identify entries containing errors, and produce a summary report.

 All these scripts are basics and can be adjusted to everybody's individual needs.