This is a quick Python cheat sheet with Examples. It contain two parts:

  • Python basics
    • This is just a basic overview
  • Advanced topics
    • many more features and concepts in Python

Python basics cheat sheet

Python data types

data example explanation
Integer 7 whole numbers
Float 4.2 floating-point numbers
String "Hello" sequence of characters
Boolean True; False booleans
List [ 1, 2, 3 ] ordered collection of items
Tuple ( 1, 2, 3 ) immutable collection of items
Dictionary { "a": 1, "b": 2 } unordered collection of pairs
Set { "a", "b", "c"} unordered collection of unique items

Basic Python data types

  • int (integers) - whole numbers
    • e.g. 1, 2, 3
  • float (floating-point numbers) - numbers with a decimal point
    • e.g. 3.14, 0.01
  • str (strings) - sequences of Unicode characters
    • e.g. "hello", 'world'
  • bool (booleans)
    • True or False

Python Collections

  • list - an ordered collection of items
    • e.g. [1, 2, 3]
  • tuple - an ordered, immutable collection of items
    • e.g. (1, 2, 3)
  • dict (dictionaries) - an unordered collection of key-value pairs
    • e.g. {'name': 'John', 'age': 30}
  • set - an unordered collection of unique items
    • e.g. {1, 2, 3}

cards

Type casting

function explanation
int(expr) Converts expression to integer
float(expr) Converts expression to float
str(expr) Converts expression to string
chr(num) ASCII char num

Python Control structures

  • if-elif-else - used to make decisions
  • for - used to iterate over a collection or a range of numbers
  • while - used to repeat a block of code until a condition is met

if-elif-else example

x = 4
y = 7
if x > y:
  print("x > y")
elif x < y:
  print("x < y")
else:
  print("x = y")  

for loop

pets = ["cat", "dog", "mouse"]
for pet in pets:
  print(pet)

while example

i = 1
while i < 3:
  print(i)
  i += 1

Functions in Python

  • def - used to define a function
  • return - used to return a value from a function
def some_function():
  print("Hello from a function")
 
def another_function():
  return 1

some_function()
print(another_function())

Classes

  • class - used to define a class
  • self - used to refer to the current instance of a class
class Student:
  def __init__(self, name, age):
	self.name = name
	self.age = age

s1 = Student("Dan", 17)
s2 = Student("Sam", 15)

print(s1.name)
print(s1.age)

Modules

  • import - used to import a module
import math
from math import pi
from math import pi as PI
from . import package

Other

  • None - represents a null value
  • lambda - used to create small anonymous functions
  • with - used to wrap the execution of a block of code with methods defined by a context manager

lambda example

x = lambda a : a + 1
print(x(3))

x = lambda a, b : a + b
print(x(3, 4))

x = lambda a, b, c : a * b * c
print(x(1, 2, 3))

with example

with open('file_path', 'w') as f:
	f.write('Hello world')

Exception Handling

f = open("demofile.txt")
try:
  f.write("Some text")
except:
  print("Error on file write")
finally:
  print("Always executed")
  f.close()

Python advanced cheat sheet

Arithmetic Operators

operator name
x + y add
x * y multiply
x % y modulus
x - y subtract
x / y divide
x ** y power

Comparison Operators

operator name
x < y Less
x > y Greater
x == y Equal
x <= y Less or eq
x >= y Greater or eq
x != y Not equal

Boolean Operators

operator name
not x Not
x and y And
x or y Or

More Python operations

operation explanation
len(s) length of s
s[i] i-th item in s (0-based)
s[start : end] slice of s from start (included) to end (excluded)
x in s True if x is contained in s
x not in s True if x is not contained in s
s + t the concatenation of s with t
s * n n copies of s concatenated
sorted(s) return a sorted copy of s
s.index(item) return position in s of item

List operations

function explanation
del lst[i] Deletes i-th item from list
lst.append(e) Appends element to list
lst.insert(i, e) Inserts e before i-th item in l-st
lst.sort() Sorts list

Dictionary operations

function explanation
len(d) Number of items in dict
del d[key] Removes key from dict
key in d True if d contains dict
d.keys() Returns keys from dict

String Operations

String manipulation

example explanation
"Hello"; 'world' Strings examples
s1+s2 concatenate
s1*3 multiply
s1 == s2 (or != or > or <) compare ('if' or 'if not')
'wo' in 'world' check ('if or 'if not')
s1[0] or s1[-1] or s1[x] position
s1[start:end:step] start - inc, end - exclusive
s1[:3] or s1[1:] slicing
s1[::-1] invert string

Most used string operations

function explanation
s.lower() return lowercase copy of s
s.replace('old', 'new') replace 'old' with 'new'
s.split( 'sep' ) list of substrings split by 'sep'
s.strip() return s without whitespaces
s.upper() return uppercase copy of s

String formatting

f-string

year = 2016
event = 'Referendum'
f'Results of the {year} {event}'

'Results of the 2016 Referendum'

.format()

txt = "This is {0}, I'm {1}".format("Dan",17)

'This is Dan, I'm 17'

numbers

"The price is ${0:,.2f}".format(100.3373)

'The price is $100.34'

dates

from datetime import datetime
now = datetime.now()
'{:%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S}'.format(now)

'2023-01-05 11:03:55'

Slicing

Indexes and Slices of a = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Python slicing of string and lists works as follows:

string[start:end:step]
list[start:end:step]
  • start is included, end - excluded
  • Positive number - from left to right
  • Negative number - from right to left
operation result explanation
len(a) 6 length
a[0] 0 first item
a[5] 5 last item by index
a[-1] 5 last item by -1 / first from right
a[-2] 4 second from right to left
string[2:5] [2,3,4] from start to end
a[1:] [1,2,3,4,5] all items up to 5th
a[:5] [0,1,2,3,4] all items up to -2
a[:-2] [0,1,2,3] from start to end - from 2nd to 3rd
a[1:3] [1,2] from 2nd to the last
a[1:-1] [1,2,3,4] from start to end
a[::-1] [5,4,3,2,1,0] reverse list order
a[::-2] [5,3,1] step by 2 reverse
b=a[:] [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] shallow copy of list

Data Formatting

from datetime import datetime
 
time = datetime.now()
print("no formatting:", time)
 
print("formatting:", time.strftime("%X"))
directive result example
%a Abbreviated weekday (Sun) Thu
%A Weekday (Sunday) Thursday
%b Abbreviated month name (Jan) Jan
%B Month name (January) january
%c Date and time Thu Jan 5 14:50:48 2023
%d Day (leading zeros) (01 to 31) 05
%H 24 hour (leading zeros) (00 to 23) 14
%I 12 hour (leading zeros) (01 to 12) 02
%j Day of year (001 to 366) 005
%m Month (01 to 12) 01
%M Minute (00 to 59) 53
%p AM or PM PM
%S Second (00 to 29) 48
%U Week number (00 to 53) 01
%w Weekday (0 - Sun to 6 - Sat) 4
%W Week number (00 to 53) 01
%x Date 01/05/23
%X Time 14:56:48
%y Year without century (00 to 99) 23
%Y Year (2008) 2023
%Z Time zone (GMT) GMT
%% A literal %" character (%) %

Python sys.argv

python sample.py Hello Python
  • sys.argv[0] == 'sample.py'
  • sys.argv[1] == 'Hello'
  • sys.argv[2] == 'Python'

Note: sys.argv[0] is always the filename/script executed

Python environment setup

function explanation
sys.argv List of command line arguments (argv[0] is executable)
os.environ Dictionary of environment variables
os.curdir String with path of current directory
import os
os.environ

OS variables

directive result example
curdir Current dir string .
defpath Default search path /bin:/usr/bin
extsep Extension separator .
linesep Line separator \n
name Name of OS posix
pardir Parent dir string ..
pathsep Patch separator :
sep Path separator /

List methods

  • append(item)
  • count(item)
  • extend(list)
  • index(item)
  • insert(position, item)
  • pop(position)
  • remove(item)
  • reverse()
  • sort()
  • insert(position, item)

More examples and comparison tuples, dict and set here: Python: Compare List vs Tuple vs Dictionary vs Set