Top Python Automation Projects & Topics For Beginners

The entire charm of computer sciences lies in solving complex and transient problems. In this sector, no one likes to work on an issue that has already been solved in the most efficient manner possible. However, in most of the projects and workflows, there are some menial tasks that one has to do on a daily basis.

One such example would be to reply to emails or enter your login information on multiple websites. Even the most patient and resilient of minds give up when they are forced to do the same monotonous task again and again. 

However, there lies a respite in probably the same language in which you do most of your work. Even if you haven’t written much code beyond the coveted “Hello World!” program yet, you can automate some fundamental tasks.

Writing out your first automation script is always awe-inspiring and very rewarding. You are bound to feel daunted along the way, but you would have to plow through the difficulties to emerge as the victor. 

One way to think about an automation pipeline would be to take a look at your routine. Look at everything that your workday entrails. Think about the things which are highly repetitive and which you believe could be easily automated. You can also choose to subdivide your tasks into smaller tasks and should try to automate whatever you can because, in the long run, you would be saving a lot of time, effort, and peace of mind.

The moment you have decided on a task to automate, another essential decision rears its head. That decision is selecting which tool to use in your quest for an automated life. Considering the vast number of languages out there, making a language choice becomes incredibly challenging.

You do not need to worry; however, because if you choose Python, you cannot go wrong. With its English like syntax and a code library for almost every task, Python naturally becomes an ideal choice for automating tasks. 

Naturally, there are many tasks which you would want to automate. In case you are unable to think or decide on a good Python automation projects or Python automation project ideas. We have curated a list of the best Python automation projects which should be well suited for anyone irrespective of their finesse with Python.

Must Read: Python Project Ideas & Topics

Python Automation Projects

It is natural to question the extent to which you would be able to automate using Python as the choice for your programming language. Rest assured, we stand by our claims. You can pretty much automate anything and everything using Python.

To be able to get started with automation, you would need a copy of Python installed on your workstation. The examples that we are going to use throughout would be based on the latest version of Python that is Python version 3.7. For very basic automation tasks, some libraries which you come pre-installed with any python distribution should work just fine, but we would let you know if and when an external installation is required.

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So, follow along with the rest of all the Python automation projects, which we have listed down below, once you have the latest version of Python installed in your system. 

Without further ado, here are some of the best Python automation project ideas:

Reading and Writing Files

You can easily automate the task of reading and writing a file with Python. The only information you are going to need would be the location of the exact file path in which they are stored. To know the file’s location or the exact file path, all you need to do is right click on that file and click properties. You should see the name of the file and the file path on the window, which would pop up.

In the ensuing code example, we have used the with statement. What the with statement allows us is to open the file and run all the code, which is indented under the with block. Once the program’s execution is completed, then the with statement would automatically do all the cleanup and close the opened file. 

We use the open() method to open the file. The argument that you are required to pass in is the file path of the file you are thinking of opening. It also takes in the optional argument, which lets you control the way you are opening the file.

The two ways are “r” for reading the file and “w” for writing the file. The reason why we said that it is an optional argument is that if you do not specify it, the program would automatically assume that you have the intention of reading the file. 

If you want to read the entire document in one go, you can use the read() method, as we have demonstrated below.

In [1]: with open(“text_file.txt”) as f:

   …:     print(f.read())                

   …:  

A simple text file.

With few lines.

And few words.

In case you would like to read the file line by line instead of the entire thing in one go you can use the readlines() method. It also saves all the lines which you would have in the file in Python list data structure. 

In [2]: with open(“text_file.txt”) as f:

   …:     print(f.readlines())                

   …:  

[“A simple text file.\n”,  “With few lines.\n”, “And few words.\n”]

You can also modify the files by giving the parameter “w” instead of “r,” as we have already specified above. One thing important to note is that whenever you open the file in write mode, all the content originally present in the file gets automatically deleted.

To avoid having to lose all the data every time that you want to write to the file, you can use the “a” optional argument. The “a” denotes that the file that you have opened is in the append mode. Your cursor is automatically placed at the end of the file. You can immediately start writing what you want into the file.

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We have shown examples of both in the code samples below: 

In [3]: with open(“text_file.txt”, “w”) as f:

    …:     f.write(“Some content”)          

    …: 

In [4]: with open(“text_file.txt”) as f:

    …:     print(f.read())          

    …: 

Some content 

In [5]: with open(“text_file.txt”, “a”) as f:

    …:     f.write(“\nAnother line of content”)          

    …: 

In [6]: with open(“text_file.txt”) as f:

    …:     print(f.read())          

    …: 

Some content

Another line of content

You have now seen how easy it is to both read and write files with the help of using python. You can build upon this knowledge by reading more on this topic. You can even contact some REST APIs and make some really impressive system in which all the files are read and written in a very smooth fashion.

Sending Emails

Another straight forward task for python to automate is sending boring emails. You can easily send emails with the use of the smtplib library. You do not have to install this library separately because it comes pre-installed with any python distribution.

You would be using the Simple Main Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to be able to achieve this feat. You are, however, only limited to using the Gmail account because SMTP would only work with Gmail accounts. 

Before you are able to send in any emails, you would need to establish an SMTP connection. Run the following code below to be able to do that. You are required to define both the Host and Port variable before you are allowed to send in any email. Also, it is always advised that you set up two different variables that hold value for your username and your password.

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It also a good thing to enter the password when you happen to use the getPass module. In case you have not written the correct password, then you would be prompted again in the shell. The moment everything checks out, the script would move down and start to establish a secure connection to STMP using the SMTP_SSL() method. The object of the class SMTP is stored in the variable which is of the server. 

In [1]: import getpass                                                                                             

In [2]: import smtplib                                                                        

In [3]: HOST = “smtp.gmail.com”                                                                                     

In [4]: PORT = 465

In [5]: username = “username@gmail.com”                                                                             

In [6]: password = getpass.getpass(“Provide Gmail password: “)

Provide Gmail password:

In [7]: server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(HOST, PORT)

Replace the username with your username and the password with your password. Then you would just need a few lines of code to be able to send the email. You would have to use the login method to log into your account and in the .sendmail() functions argument pass in the mail, you want to send. You can take a look at the code below which should help you in doing that. 

In [8]: server.login(username, password)                               

Out[8]: (235, b’2.7.0 Accepted’)

In [9]: server.sendmail(

  …:     “from@domain.com”,       

  …:      “to@domain.com”,

  …:     “An email from Python!”,

  …:     )

Out[9]: {}

In [8]: server.quit()                          

Out[8]: (221, b’2.0.0 closing connection s1sm24313728ljc.3 – gsmtp’)

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Conclusion 

From this list of the best python automation projects, we hope you could find some excellent and exciting projects. We would like to reiterate that projects are essential for both learning and getting a job. So, it is imperative to have some projects to show in your resume.

We also hope you could learn something new about python and why python is used for automation. Not to mention that learning to automate tasks would make your life easier and include the “wow factor”. You would be amazed by the sheer number of jobs you could automate once you delve deeper into this sector. 

At any point, if you feel that you lack in your knowledge of python or the basics of programming, be sure to check out our affiliate diploma courses from the best institutes from around the world.