How I Wrote My First Python Script (And You Can Too)

Three years ago, I didn't know a single line of code. Now I write Python scripts every day — automating work, scraping data, building bots. And it all started with one tiny script.

I needed to rename 500 photo files. Doing it manually? Madness. An hour of work. Maybe two. And then I remembered hearing about this thing called Python...

I wrote my first script in 20 minutes. It did the work in 5 seconds. At that moment, I realized: this is magic. And now I want you to try it too.

Step 1. Installing Python

Before writing code, you need to install Python. It's very simple:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

After installation, open the terminal and check:

python --version
# or
python3 --version

If you see a Python version — it's working!

Step 2. Your First Python Program

Open any text editor. Create a file hello.py and write:

print("Hello, world!")

Save the file. Open the terminal in the folder with the file and run:

python hello.py

You'll see:

Hello, world!

What Is a Script and How Is It Different from a Program

A script is a program that automates a specific task. The difference between a script and a regular program is blurry, but generally:

• Script

  Does one specific task, often automates routine work

• Program

  More complex application with a user interface

Step 3. Real Task: Automation

Let's write a script that renames all files in a folder. This is one of the most useful things you can automate.

Imagine you have a folder with files:

IMG_001.jpg
IMG_002.jpg
IMG_003.jpg
...

And you want them to be named:

2026_08_10_001.jpg
2026_08_10_002.jpg
2026_08_10_003.jpg
...

Here's the script code:

import os
from datetime import datetime

# Folder with files
folder = "path_to_folder"

# Get list of files
files = os.listdir(folder)

# Filter only images
images = [f for f in files if f.endswith(('.jpg', '.png', '.jpeg'))]

# Sort for order
images.sort()

# Rename
today = datetime.now().strftime("%Y_%m_%d")
for i, old_name in enumerate(images, start=1):
    old_path = os.path.join(folder, old_name)
    new_name = f"{today}_{i:03d}.jpg"
    new_path = os.path.join(folder, new_name)
    os.rename(old_path, new_path)
    print(f"Renamed: {old_name} → {new_name}")

print("Done! All files have been renamed.")

Copy this code, replace "path_to_folder" with the actual path, and run it.

How This Script Works — Breakdown

import os
from datetime import datetime

folder = "path_to_folder"

files = os.listdir(folder)

os.rename(old_path, new_path)

Next Level: User Interaction

Let's make the script more useful — add user input:

import os

# Ask the user
folder = input("Enter path to folder: ")

if not os.path.exists(folder):
    print("Error: folder not found!")
    exit()

# Ask for prefix
prefix = input("Enter prefix for files (e.g., 'photo_'): ")

files = os.listdir(folder)
count = 0

for old_name in files:
    old_path = os.path.join(folder, old_name)
    if os.path.isfile(old_path):
        name, ext = os.path.splitext(old_name)
        new_name = f"{prefix}{count:03d}{ext}"
        new_path = os.path.join(folder, new_name)
        os.rename(old_path, new_path)
        count += 1
        print(f"{old_name} → {new_name}")

print(f"Done! Renamed {count} files.")

Now the script asks the user which folder to process and what prefix to use.

What Other Scripts Can You Write?

Here's a list of ideas I started with:

Where to Learn More

If you enjoyed this, here are resources to help you grow:

• Official Python Tutorial
• YouTube tutorials
• r/learnpython on Reddit

Frequently Asked Questions

In Conclusion

I started with a simple script to rename files. Now I automate everything that can be automated. Python gave me a superpower — doing in 5 seconds what used to take hours.

You can too. Just try it. Write your first script today. Tomorrow will be easier. And in a month, you'll be amazed at how much you can automate.

By the way, if you need ready-made tools for work — check out our free online tools. They can come in handy even without Python.