I love Python. And I love Shell scripts too. But Python, definitely more. I spend 80% of my time on my MBP in the terminal. And being a student with some administrative responsibilities, I frequently have to perform certain simple tasks (creating directory structures, files etc.) numerous times. To that extent I find that Python provides a lot of tools that one can use to efficiently do such shell tasks.

Scenario

I have a folder structure that looks something like this:

tester
├── student_scripts
│   ├── student_1
│   ├── student_2
...

And I want to create a directory structure like this:

H2
├── studentfolder_1
│   ├── grades
│   ├── studentout
│   └── testerout
├── studentfolder_2
│   ├── grades
│   ├── studentout
│   └── testerout
|   some_other_random_files
|   and_some_more_random_files
...

And I have close 50 student folders. My problem is how do I take something as simple as a mkdir command and automatically create the required folder structure without - manually entering the student names - writing a complex shell script

Solution

1. Create a Python script: Let's call it tester/tmp/listdir.py (Yes I'm not very creative with names). Here's what it looks like:

   import os
   from os import path
   root = path.dirname(path.realpath(__file__+"/.."))
   root = path.join(root, "student_scripts")
   for folder in os.listdir(root):
       if path.isdir(path.join(root, folder)):
           print folder+"/testerout"
           print folder+"/studentout"
           print folder+"/grades"
   

2. Create the folder structure: Next we use a neat feature of Shell Expansion, Command Substitution. Next enter the following command in the terminal:

   $ mkdir H2
   $ mkdir -p `python ~/dev/personal/h2_tester/tmp/listdir.py`
   

And that's it. Finito. Folder structure is created.

My experience with Python

I am definitely not an expert on Python to comment on the powers of python. But, I can tell you this. It is brilliant. In just 5 lines of dead simple code, I achieved something that would have involved some pain staking StackOverflow browsing for shell scripts or manual labor. Didn't have to do any of it.

I am not asking you convert to only Python for your scripts from now on, but you can use the power of python scripts to augment your shell tasks. Definitely worth a try.