Automate the Boring Stuff With Python ─ Practical Programming for Total Beginners

Ever spent way too much time renaming a folder full of files, or updating hundreds of cells in Excel by hand? You might not be a programmer, but even non-programmers can benefit from knowing how to write simple time-saving scripts. Automate the Boring Stuff with Python teaches you just enough Python for you to start automating your own tedious computer tasks.

Starting from zero, author Al Sweigart gets you up and running with the beginner-friendly Python programming language as quickly as possible, without a lot of unnecessary theory. You start with the basics, learning from code examples that are as practical as they are illustrative. Soon you're using powerful pieces of pre-existing code (Python's "modules") to effortlessly perform truly impressive—and useful—feats of scripting prowess. In particular, this book teaches you how to:

• Search for any pattern of text in a file, or across multiple files
• Organize your life (and computer) by creating, updating, moving, and renaming files and folders
• Scrape the web for data and information
• Instantly update Excel spreadsheets of any size
• Automatically send out emails or text messages
• Schedule your computer to perform tasks at regular intervals

Al Sweigart is a professional software developer who teaches programming to kids and mentors adult students. His programming tutorials can be found at inventwithpython.com/blog. He has written three popular self-published books that teach Python to beginners, including Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, Making Games with Python & Pygame, and Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python.