Please note that these examples were changed to run under Python 3. The Python2orPython3 page provides advice on how to decide which one will best suit your needs.

Some differences from Python 2 to Python 3:

# Python 2 syntax
print 'Hello, world!'
raw_input('What is your name?\n')
self.failUnlessEqual(median([2, 9, 9, 7, 9, 2, 4, 5, 8]), 7) # Unit testing with unittest
copy[(size - 1) / 2] # access of a list index without casting to int
xrange(BOARD_SIZE) # xrange exists
cmp(1.0, 0.0) # cmp function exists
iteratable.next() # list iteration
itertools.ifilter(prime.__rmod__, iteratable) # itertools.ifilter is filter in Python 3

# Python 3 syntax
print('Hello, World!')
input('What is your name?\n')
self.assertEqual(median([2, 9, 9, 7, 9, 2, 4, 5, 8]), 7) # Unit testing with unittest, failUnlessEqual deprecated
copy[int((size - 1) / 2)] # access of a list index needs casting to int
range(BOARD_SIZE) # xrange was renamed to range in Python 3
#cmp needs to be implemented!
def cmp(a, b):
     return (a > b) - (a < b)
next(iteratable) # list iteration
filter(prime.__rmod__, iteratable) # is itertools.ifilter in Python 2

The examples below will increase in number of lines of code and difficulty:

1 line: Output

print ('Hello, world!')

2 lines: Input, assignment

name = input('What is your name?\n')
print ('Hi, %s.' % name)

3 lines: For loop, built-in enumerate function, new style formatting

friends = ['john', 'pat', 'gary', 'michael']
for i, name in enumerate(friends):
    print ("iteration {iteration} is {name}".format(iteration=i, name=name))

4 lines: Fibonacci, tuple assignment

parents, babies = (1, 1)
while babies < 100:
    print ('This generation has {0} babies'.format(babies))
    parents, babies = (babies, parents + babies)

5 lines: Functions

def greet(name):
    print ('Hello', name)

greet('Jack')
greet('Jill')
greet('Bob')

6 lines: Import, regular expressions

import re
for test_string in ['555-1212', 'ILL-EGAL']:
    if re.match(r'^\d{3}-\d{4}$', test_string):
        print (test_string, 'is a valid US local phone number')
    else:
        print (test_string, 'rejected')

7 lines: Dictionaries, generator expressions

prices = {'apple': 0.40, 'banana': 0.50}
my_purchase = {
    'apple': 1,
    'banana': 6}
grocery_bill = sum(prices[fruit] * my_purchase[fruit]
                   for fruit in my_purchase)
print ('I owe the grocer $%.2f' % grocery_bill)

8 lines: Command line arguments, exception handling

# This program adds up integers that have been passed as arguments in the command line
import sys
try:
    total = sum(int(arg) for arg in sys.argv[1:])
    print ('sum =', total)
except ValueError:
    print ('Please supply integer arguments')

9 lines: Opening files

# indent your Python code to put into an email
import glob
# glob supports Unix style pathname extensions
python_files = glob.glob('*.py')
for file_name in sorted(python_files):
    print ('    ------' + file_name)

    with open(file_name) as f:
        for line in f:
            print ('    ' + line.rstrip())

    print()

10 lines: Time, conditionals, from..import, for..else

from time import localtime

activities = {8: 'Sleeping',
              9: 'Commuting',
              17: 'Working',
              18: 'Commuting',
              20: 'Eating',
              22: 'Resting' }

time_now = localtime()
hour = time_now.tm_hour

for activity_time in sorted(activities.keys()):
    if hour < activity_time:
        print (activities[activity_time])
        break
else:
    print ('Unknown, AFK or sleeping!')

11 lines: Triple-quoted strings, while loop

REFRAIN = '''
%d bottles of beer on the wall,
%d bottles of beer,
take one down, pass it around,
%d bottles of beer on the wall!
'''
bottles_of_beer = 9
while bottles_of_beer > 1:
    print (REFRAIN % (bottles_of_beer, bottles_of_beer,
        bottles_of_beer - 1))
    bottles_of_beer -= 1

12 lines: Classes

class BankAccount(object):
    def __init__(self, initial_balance=0):
        self.balance = initial_balance
    def deposit(self, amount):
        self.balance += amount
    def withdraw(self, amount):
        self.balance -= amount
    def overdrawn(self):
        return self.balance < 0
my_account = BankAccount(15)
my_account.withdraw(50)
print (my_account.balance, my_account.overdrawn())

13 lines: Unit testing with unittest

import unittest
def median(pool):
    copy = sorted(pool)
    size = len(copy)
    if size % 2 == 1:
        return copy[int((size - 1) / 2)]
    else:
        return (copy[int(size/2 - 1)] + copy[int(size/2)]) / 2
class TestMedian(unittest.TestCase):
    def testMedian(self):
        self.assertEqual(median([2, 9, 9, 7, 9, 2, 4, 5, 8]), 7)
if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

14 lines: Doctest-based testing

def median(pool):
    '''Statistical median to demonstrate doctest.
    >>> median([2, 9, 9, 7, 9, 2, 4, 5, 8])
    6 #change to 7 in order to pass the test
    '''
    copy = sorted(pool)
    size = len(copy)
    if size % 2 == 1:
        return copy[int((size - 1) / 2)]
    else:
        return (copy[int(size/2 - 1)] + copy[int(size/2)]) / 2
if __name__ == '__main__':
    import doctest
    doctest.testmod()

15 lines: itertools

from itertools import groupby
lines = '''
This is the
first paragraph.

This is the second.
'''.splitlines()
# Use itertools.groupby and bool to return groups of
# consecutive lines that either have content or don't.
for has_chars, frags in groupby(lines, bool):
    if has_chars:
        print (' '.join(frags))
# PRINTS:
# This is the first paragraph.
# This is the second.

16 lines: csv module, tuple unpacking, cmp() built-in

import csv

# need to define cmp function in Python 3
def cmp(a, b):
    return (a > b) - (a < b)

# write stocks data as comma-separated values
with open('stocks.csv', 'w', newline='') as stocksFileW:
    writer = csv.writer(stocksFileW)
    writer.writerows([
        ['GOOG', 'Google, Inc.', 505.24, 0.47, 0.09],
        ['YHOO', 'Yahoo! Inc.', 27.38, 0.33, 1.22],
        ['CNET', 'CNET Networks, Inc.', 8.62, -0.13, -1.4901]
    ])

# read stocks data, print status messages
with open('stocks.csv', 'r') as stocksFile:
    stocks = csv.reader(stocksFile)

    status_labels = {-1: 'down', 0: 'unchanged', 1: 'up'}
    for ticker, name, price, change, pct in stocks:
        status = status_labels[cmp(float(change), 0.0)]
        print ('%s is %s (%.2f)' % (name, status, float(pct)))

18 lines: 8-Queens Problem (recursion)

BOARD_SIZE = 8

def under_attack(col, queens):
    left = right = col

    for r, c in reversed(queens):
        left, right = left - 1, right + 1

        if c in (left, col, right):
            return True
    return False

def solve(n):
    if n == 0:
        return [[]]

    smaller_solutions = solve(n - 1)

    return [solution+[(n,i+1)]
        for i in range(BOARD_SIZE)
            for solution in smaller_solutions
                if not under_attack(i+1, solution)]
for answer in solve(BOARD_SIZE):
    print (answer)

20 lines: Prime numbers sieve w/fancy generators

import itertools

def iter_primes():
     # an iterator of all numbers between 2 and +infinity
     numbers = itertools.count(2)

     # generate primes forever
     while True:
         # get the first number from the iterator (always a prime)
         prime = next(numbers)
         yield prime

         # this code iteratively builds up a chain of
         # filters...slightly tricky, but ponder it a bit
         numbers = filter(prime.__rmod__, numbers)

for p in iter_primes():
    if p > 1000:
        break
    print (p)

21 lines: XML/HTML parsing (using Python 2.5 or third-party library) (this example is in Python 2 syntax)

dinner_recipe = '''<html><body><table>
<tr><th>amt</th><th>unit</th><th>item</th></tr>
<tr><td>24</td><td>slices</td><td>baguette</td></tr>
<tr><td>2+</td><td>tbsp</td><td>olive oil</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>cup</td><td>tomatoes</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>jar</td><td>pesto</td></tr>
</table></body></html>'''

# In Python 2.5 or from http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm
import xml.etree.ElementTree as etree
tree = etree.fromstring(dinner_recipe)

# For invalid HTML use http://effbot.org/zone/element-soup.htm
# import ElementSoup, StringIO
# tree = ElementSoup.parse(StringIO.StringIO(dinner_recipe))

pantry = set(['olive oil', 'pesto'])
for ingredient in tree.getiterator('tr'):
    amt, unit, item = ingredient
    if item.tag == "td" and item.text not in pantry:
        print "%s: %s %s" % (item.text, amt.text, unit.text)

28 lines (this example is in Python 2 syntax): 8-Queens Problem (define your own exceptions)

BOARD_SIZE = 8

class BailOut(Exception):
    pass

def validate(queens):
    left = right = col = queens[-1]
    for r in reversed(queens[:-1]):
        left, right = left-1, right+1
        if r in (left, col, right):
            raise BailOut

def add_queen(queens):
    for i in range(BOARD_SIZE):
        test_queens = queens + [i]
        try:
            validate(test_queens)
            if len(test_queens) == BOARD_SIZE:
                return test_queens
            else:
                return add_queen(test_queens)
        except BailOut:
            pass
    raise BailOut

queens = add_queen([])
print queens
print "\n".join(". "*q + "Q " + ". "*(BOARD_SIZE-q-1) for q in queens)

33 lines (this example is in Python 2 syntax): "Guess the Number" Game (edited) from http://inventwithpython.com

import random

guesses_made = 0

name = raw_input('Hello! What is your name?\n')

number = random.randint(1, 20)
print 'Well, {0}, I am thinking of a number between 1 and 20.'.format(name)

while guesses_made < 6:

    guess = int(raw_input('Take a guess: '))

    guesses_made += 1

    if guess < number:
        print 'Your guess is too low.'

    if guess > number:
        print 'Your guess is too high.'

    if guess == number:
        break

if guess == number:
    print 'Good job, {0}! You guessed my number in {1} guesses!'.format(name, guesses_made)
else:
    print 'Nope. The number I was thinking of was {0}'.format(number)

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