⚡ Python Utils

The fast, fully-typed stdlib helpers you keep rewriting — in one tiny, dependency-light package.

Documentation · PyPI · Source · Issues

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Python Utils is a collection of small, battle-tested functions and classes that make everyday Python patterns shorter, safer and faster. No sprawling framework, no heavy dependencies — just the helpers you find yourself re-writing in project after project, packaged once and typed to the hilt.

It has powered production code for years (and is used by libraries such as Django Utils and progressbar2).

✨ Highlights

• 🪶 Zero-cost imports — thanks to PEP 562 lazy loading, import python_utils pulls in nothing until you actually touch a helper. No asyncio, no typing_extensions, until you ask for them.
• ⚡ Async-native — acount, abatcher, and timeout/stall detectors bring itertools-style ergonomics to async for.
• 📦 Smart containers — self-casting dicts, duplicate-proof lists and a sliceable deque.
• 🔢 Forgiving converters — pull an int/float out of any messy string, scale bytes to KiB/MiB, remap values between ranges (with Decimal precision).
• ⏱️ Time & retries — human-readable durations plus timeout generators for sampling slow APIs without hanging.
• 🎯 Fully typed & 100% covered — ships py.typed, passes mypy, basedpyright and pyrefly in strict mode, with 100% test coverage.
• 🐍 Modern & tiny — Python 3.10+, a single runtime dependency (typing_extensions), BSD-3 licensed.

🗺️ What's inside

Module	What you get
converters	to_int · to_float · to_str · to_unicode · scale_1024 · remap
formatters	camel_to_underscore · apply_recursive · timesince
time	format_time · timeout_generator · aio_timeout_generator · aio_generator_timeout_detector
generators	batcher · abatcher (batch by size or time interval)
aio	acount · acontainer — async itertools
containers	CastedDict · LazyCastedDict · UniqueList · SliceableDeque
decorators	listify · set_attributes · sample · wraps_classmethod
logger	Logged · LoggerBase (+ Logurud via the loguru extra)
import_	import_global — programmatic from x import *
exceptions	raise_exception · reraise
terminal	get_terminal_size — works in shells, IPython & Jupyter
types	handy type aliases (Number, Scope, StringTypes, …)

📦 Installation

pip install python-utils

Optional extras:

pip install 'python-utils[loguru]'   # loguru-backed logging mixin

Python 3.10+ is required. The only runtime dependency is typing_extensions (and it's imported lazily).

🚀 Quickstart

import python_utils

# Pull a number out of any messy string
python_utils.to_int('listening on port=8080', regexp=True)   # 8080

# Human-readable sizes: (value, power-of-1024)
python_utils.scale_1024(1536, 2)                             # (1.5, 1)  -> 1.5 KiB

# Remap a value between ranges (46% volume -> dB on an AVR)
python_utils.remap(46.0, 0.0, 100.0, -80.0, 10.0)           # -38.6

# "time ago" formatting, Django-style
import datetime
python_utils.timesince(datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(seconds=61))
# '1 minute and 1 second ago'

Everything is reachable straight off the top-level package (python_utils.<name>) or from its submodule (python_utils.converters.to_int) — pick whichever reads better. Either way, only the modules you touch get imported.

🧰 Examples

🔢 Converters — numbers out of anything

from python_utils import converters

# Extract digits with a built-in or custom regexp
converters.to_int('spam15eggs', regexp=True)          # 15
converters.to_int('nope', default=-1)                 # -1
converters.to_float('pi is 3.14', regexp=True)        # 3.14

# Scale bytes to a sensible unit (value, power) -> 2.0 KiB
converters.scale_1024(2048, 3)                         # (2.0, 1)

# Linear remap; pass a Decimal anywhere to keep full precision
converters.remap(500, 0, 1000, 0, 100)                # 50
import decimal
converters.remap(decimal.Decimal('250.0'), 0.0, 1000.0, 0.0, 100.0)
# Decimal('25.0')

📦 Containers — dicts & lists with super-powers

from python_utils import containers

# Keys and values are cast on the way in
d = containers.CastedDict(int, int)
d['3'] = '4'
d.update({'5': '6'})
d                                   # {3: 4, 5: 6}

# A list that silently drops duplicates (or raises, if you prefer)
u = containers.UniqueList(1, 2, 3)
u.append(2)                         # ignored
u                                   # [1, 2, 3]

# A deque you can actually slice
s = containers.SliceableDeque([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
s[1:4]                              # SliceableDeque([2, 3, 4])

⚡ Async helpers — itertools for async for

from python_utils import aio, generators

# Async counter (optionally with a delay and a stop value)
async def demo():
    async for i in aio.acount(stop=3):
        print(i)                    # 0, 1, 2

# Batch an async stream by size OR time interval — whichever comes first.
# Great for chunking bursty producers without ever stalling a slow loop.
async def batched():
    async for batch in generators.abatcher(aio.acount(stop=10), batch_size=3):
        print(batch)                # [0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]

# Sync batching too:
list(generators.batcher(range(9), 3))   # [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8]]

⏱️ Time & retries — sample slow APIs, format durations

import datetime
from python_utils import time

# Loop over a slow operation, but give up after `timeout` seconds
for i in time.timeout_generator(0.1, interval=0.06):
    ...                             # yields 0, 1, 2 then stops

# Format timedeltas, datetimes and raw seconds uniformly
time.format_time(1)                                         # '0:00:01'
time.format_time(datetime.timedelta(seconds=3661))         # '1:01:01'
time.format_time(datetime.datetime(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5))   # '2000-01-02 03:04:05'
time.format_time(None)                                     # '--:--:--'

There's also aio_timeout_generator (the async for twin) and aio_generator_timeout_detector, which fails fast when an async generator stalls instead of hanging forever.

🔤 Formatters — case conversion & friendly timestamps

from python_utils import formatters

formatters.camel_to_underscore('SpamEggsAndBacon')   # 'spam_eggs_and_bacon'

# Recursively rewrite every key in a nested dict
formatters.apply_recursive(
    formatters.camel_to_underscore,
    {'SpamEggs': {'FooBar': 1}},
)                                                    # {'spam_eggs': {'foo_bar': 1}}

🎀 Decorators — collect generators, tag functions, sample calls

from python_utils import decorators

# Turn a generator into a concrete collection automatically
@decorators.listify()
def numbers():
    yield 1
    yield 2
    yield 3

numbers()                           # [1, 2, 3]

@decorators.listify(collection=dict)
def pairs():
    yield 'a', 1
    yield 'b', 2

pairs()                             # {'a': 1, 'b': 2}

# Attach metadata to a function (handy for the Django admin)
@decorators.set_attributes(short_description='Name')
def upper_case_name(self, obj):
    return f'{obj.first_name} {obj.last_name}'.upper()

# Only actually run ~10% of the calls
@decorators.sample(0.1)
def maybe_log(msg): ...

📝 Logging — a correctly-named logger on every class

from python_utils.logger import Logged

class MyClass(Logged):
    def do_work(self):
        self.info('starting %s', 'work')     # stdlib %-style logging args
        self.error('something went wrong')

MyClass().do_work()

Prefer loguru? Install the extra (pip install 'python-utils[loguru]') and subclass Logurud instead — the same self.info(...) / self.error(...) API, backed by loguru so you keep all its configuration and per-instance context.

🖥️ Terminal & 🧩 misc

from python_utils import terminal, import_
from python_utils.exceptions import raise_exception, reraise

# Robust terminal size (tries IPython/Jupyter, shutil, blessings, ioctl, tput…)
terminal.get_terminal_size()                    # e.g. (80, 24)

# Programmatic `from some_module import *`
import_.import_global('os')

# Build a callable that raises — useful as a default/callback
on_error = raise_exception(ValueError, 'boom')

⚡ Performance: lazy by default

import python_utils is intentionally cheap. Every submodule and every export is wired through a PEP 562 __getattr__, so nothing is imported until first access — and then it's cached. In particular:

• Need only the synchronous helpers? asyncio is never imported.
• Even typing_extensions is deferred, so the import graph stays minimal.

import sys
import python_utils                 # imports basically nothing extra

'asyncio' in sys.modules            # False
python_utils.acount                 # now `aio` (and asyncio) load, on demand

See the performance guide for the full story.

📚 Documentation

Full API reference and guides live at https://python-utils.readthedocs.io/en/latest/.

🔗 Links

• 📖 Documentation: https://python-utils.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
• 🐙 Source: https://github.com/WoLpH/python-utils
• 📦 PyPI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-utils
• 🐛 Issues: https://github.com/WoLpH/python-utils/issues
• ✍️ Author's blog: https://wol.ph/

🔒 Security

To report a security vulnerability, please use the Tidelift security contact. Tidelift will coordinate the fix and disclosure.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome! We keep a strict 100% coverage bar and run ruff, three type checkers and the full test matrix in CI. See CONTRIBUTING.md to get set up.

📄 License

BSD-3-Clause — see LICENSE.