Table Of Content

P R A C T I C A L P R O G R A M M I N G F O R T O T A L B E G I N N E R S A L S W E I G A R T AUTOMATE THE BORING STUFF WITH PYTHON AUTOMATE THE BORING STUFF WITH PYTHON SHELVE IN: PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/ PYTHON $29.95 ($34.95 CDN) www.nostarch.com THE FINEST IN GEEK ENTERTAINMENT ™ If you’ve ever spent hours renaming files or updating hundreds of spreadsheet cells, you know how tedious tasks like these can be. But what if you could have your computer do them for you? minutes what would take you hours to do by hand— learn how to use Python to write programs that do in In Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, you’ll no prior programming experience required. Once create Python programs that effortlessly perform useful and impressive feats of automation to: “I LIE FLAT.” This book uses a durable binding that won’t snap shut. you’ve mastered the basics of programming, you’ll • Search for text in a file or across multiple files • Create, update, move, and rename files and folders • Search the Web and download online content • Update and format data in Excel spreadsheets of any size Don’t spend your time doing work a well-trained monkey could do. Even if you’ve never written a line • Send reminder emails and text notifications • Fill out online forms Step-by-step instructions walk you through each program, and practice projects at the end of each chapter challenge you to improve those programs and use your newfound skills to automate similar tasks. • Split, merge, watermark, and encrypt PDFs G E T S T U F F D O N E . L E A R N P Y T H O N . G E T S T U F F D O N E . L E A R N P Y T H O N . C O V E R S P Y T H O N 3 of code, you can make your computer do the grunt work. Learn how in Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. Python books for beginners, including Hacking Secret A B O U T T H E A U T H O R Al Sweigart is a software developer and teaches programming to kids and adults. He has written several Ciphers with Python, Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, and Making Games with Python & Pygame. AU TOM AT E T HE BORING S T UFF W IT H PY T HON AU TOM AT E T HE BORING S T UFF W IT H PY T HON S W E I G A RT SFI-00000 AutomAte the Boring Stuff with Python AutomAte the Boring Stuff with Python Practical Programming for total Beginners by Al Sweigart San Francisco AutomAte the Boring Stuff with Python. Copyright © 2015 by Al Sweigart. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. Printed in USA Second printing 19 18 17 16 15 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ISBN-10: 1-59327-599-4 ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-599-0 Publisher: William Pollock Production Editor: Laurel Chun Cover Illustration: Josh Ellingson Interior Design: Octopod Studios Developmental Editors: Jennifer Griffith-Delgado, Greg Poulos, and Leslie Shen Technical Reviewer: Ari Lacenski Copyeditor: Kim Wimpsett Compositor: Susan Glinert Stevens Proofreader: Lisa Devoto Farrell Indexer: BIM Indexing and Proofreading Services For information on distribution, translations, or bulk sales, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly: No Starch Press, Inc. 245 8th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 phone: 415.863.9900;