<div><p>Ever spent way too much time renaming a folder full of files, or updating hundreds of cells in Excel by hand? You might not be a programmer, but even non-programmers can benefit from knowing how to write simple time-saving scripts. <em>Automate the Boring Stuff with Python</em> teaches you just enough Python for you to start automating your own tedious computer tasks.</p><p>Starting from zero, author Al Sweigart gets you up and running with the beginner-friendly Python programming language as quickly as possible, without a lot of unnecessary theory. You start with the basics, learning from code examples that are as practical as they are illustrative. Soon you're using powerful pieces of pre-existing code (Python's "modules") to effortlessly perform truly impressive—and useful—feats of scripting prowess. In particular, this book teaches you how to:</p><ul><li>Search for any pattern of text in a file, or across multiple files</li><li>Organize your life (and computer) by creating, updating, moving, and renaming files and folders</li><li>Scrape the web for data and information</li><li>Instantly update Excel spreadsheets of any size</li><li>Automatically send out emails or text messages</li><li>Schedule your computer to perform tasks at regular intervals</li></ul>It turns out that you don't need to be a programmer to get your computer to work for you. <em>Automate the Boring Stuff with Python</em> really is the practical programming guide for the rest of us.</div>