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Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators

You're reading from   Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators Write scripts and automate them for real-world administration tasks using Python

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Product type Paperback
Published in Jan 2019
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781789133226
Length 318 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
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Author (1):
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Ganesh Sanjiv Naik Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
Author Profile Icon Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
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Table of Contents (21) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Python Scripting Overview FREE CHAPTER 2. Debugging and Profiling Python Scripts 3. Unit Testing - Introduction to the Unit Testing Framework 4. Automating Regular Administrative Activities 5. Handling Files, Directories, and Data 6. File Archiving, Encrypting, and Decrypting 7. Text Processing and Regular Expressions 8. Documentation and Reporting 9. Working with Various Files 10. Basic Networking - Socket Programming 11. Handling Emails Using Python Scripting 12. Remote Monitoring of Hosts Over Telnet and SSH 13. Building Graphical User Interfaces 14. Working with Apache and Other Log Files 15. SOAP and REST API Communication 16. Web Scraping - Extracting Useful Data from Websites 17. Statistics Gathering and Reporting 18. MySQL and SQLite Database Administrations 19. Assessments 20. Other Books You May Enjoy

Modules

Modules are just files that contain Python statements and definitions. A file that contains Python code (for example, sample.py) is called a module and its module name would be sample. Using modules, we can break larger programs into small and organized ones. An important feature of a module is re-usability. Instead of copying the definitions of the most used functions in different programs, you can define them in the module and just import them whenever needed.

Let's create a module and import it. We will create two scripts: sample.py and add.py. We will import a sample module in our add.py. Now, save the following code as sample.py. Let's take a look with the following example:

sample.py
def addition(num1, num2):
result = num1 + num2
return result

Here, we have defined a addition() function inside a module named sample. The function takes in two numbers and returns their sum. Now we have created a module. You can import this in any Python program.

Importing modules

Now, after creating a module, we will learn how to import that module. In the previous example, we created a sample module. Now we will import the sample module in add.py script:

add.py
import sample
sum = sample.addition(10, 20)
print(sum)

Output:
30
You have been reading a chapter from
Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators
Published in: Jan 2019
Publisher: Packt
ISBN-13: 9781789133226
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