Forem: Irfan Faisal

Connecting Gemini CLI to Docker MCP — Build Your Own AI Tool Ecosystem

Irfan Faisal — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 18:22:51 +0000

Hello everyone! Today we will learn about how to run Gemini CLI as MCP client with Docker MCP Server. Gemini CLI is a command-line version of Google’s Gemini that lets developers build AI agents, automate workflows, and run headless or backend tasks. Unlike Claude desktop or chatgpt , it’s fast, scriptable, and open, giving developers full control to combine AI reasoning with real-world actions.

The game-changing feature is that you can use MCP Server in Gemini CLI by turning it into MCP Client. Before diving into it more, lets clear some basics.

What are MCP Server and MCP Client?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It’s a new open standard that lets AI models (like Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) communicate with external tools or apps in a consistent, secure way.

With the help of MCP server, you can give your AI agent or model access to multiple tools and make your agentic work smarter.

And the AI models or AI agents that will use the MCP server to use tools are called MCP clients.

Now let's dive into our today's main focus. I will show you step-by-step how you can use Docker MCP in your Gemini CLI.

Step 1: Install Docker

Go to this link and download the installer file for Docker.Docker Desktop
Click your installer file and start the installation.
Make sure to enable this button otherwise docker won't run successfully.

Click next and complete the installation process.
After that, click your Docker Desktop and start your Docker engine.

Step 2: Install Node.js.

To run the Gemini CLI, Node.js is a requirement. Go to this link and download Node.js. Node.js

Step 3: Install Gemini CLI Globally

For Windows, Mac, or Linux, run this code in your command prompt and install Gemini CLI.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

After installing, verify the Gemini version

gemini --version

Then, you must log in with your Google account.

gemini login

After completing the installation, just write "gemini" in your command prompt, and the Gemini CLI interface will start running. You can use this as you use Gemini by generating texts and doing web searches (you will need the Gemini API for that), but the best part is that now this CLI has access to all the files of your local machine! How cool is that!

Step 4: Docker MCP

Docker Desktop already has a built-in MCP toolkit, which allows you to select any MCP server you want out of 223 servers from their catalogs. You can also choose Claude desktop, Gemini CLI, or Cursor as your MCP client. In this tutorial, we will focus on using Gemini CLI as an MCP client for MCP Docker.

First, go to MCP toolkit in Docker Desktop.

Next, go to the catalog to search for our desired MCP server.

In this tutorial we will show how to add the Wikipedia MCP server to your Docker. For that reason, search for Wikipedia and select the Wikipedia server.

Next, you can see the Wikipedia server in the "My Servers" tab.

Congrats! Now you have added the Wikipedia MCP server to your Docker Desktop! That's how easy the whole process is. Next, we will add Gemini CLI as an MCP client.

Step 5: Gemini CLI as MCP client

This step is also very easy. First, go to the "Clients" tab in the MCP toolkit and connect Gemini CLI. That's it; your Gemini CLI is now connected to Docker MCP.
Next, go to your command prompt and write Gemini. This will initiate Gemini in your command line. It will look something like this:

You can see that your Gemini CLI is already connected to Docker MCP. You can check that by writing /mcp in the command line.

Debugging: In case your Docker MCP is not showing in Gemini CLI,
just run docker mcp gateway run and this will connect your Docker MCP to Gemini CLI.

Step 6: We're ready!

Now let's test our MCP server. Our Docker MCP now has access to Wikipedia. And with the Gemini CLI as an MCP client, we can directly access all the tools of Wikipedia. Let's test it!

First, go to your command prompt and write "gemini." This will initialize the Gemini CLI.
Then write this: "search in wikipedia for Milkyway Galaxy"

Then you will see something like this. Click "Allow once" and go to the next step.

Gemini will use the "search_wikipedia" tool with the query of "Milkyway galaxy" and will show a result like this.

Your Gemini may ask if you want a summary like this in the photo. If you say yes, it will show a summary of the article.

Congrats! You have done it!
Great news! You have successfully tested your Docker MCP server in Gemini CLI. Now you have countless possibilities. From using the Gmail MCP server to send mail to using MongoDB for your database, you can do whatever you want. The sky is the limit!

In the next tutorial, we will show how to automate and send mail to multiple email addresses with just one command with the help of Gemini CLI and MCP Docker.

Building a Universal CSV to Supabase Importer: From Messy Data to Structured Database

Irfan Faisal — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 04:21:52 +0000

How I built a Python script that automatically transforms CSV files into clean, queryable database records

The Problem: Data Ingestion Nightmare

Picture this: You've got CSV files scattered across your system - product inventories, customer lists, sales data, you name it. Each file has different column names, missing values, and inconsistent formatting. You need to get this data into a database so your applications can actually use it.

The traditional approach? Manual copy-pasting, Excel gymnastics, or writing custom scripts for each file. Sound familiar? I've been there, and it's a productivity killer.

That's exactly why I built a Universal CSV to Supabase Importer - a Python script that automatically handles the messy details of data transformation and database insertion.

The Solution: Automated Data Pipeline

My solution is a flexible Python script that acts as a data pipeline:

CSV File → Data Cleaning → Column Mapping → Validation → Supabase Database

The beauty of this approach is its simplicity and reusability. Once configured, you can process any CSV file with just one command.

The Tech Stack: Why These Choices?

Python + Pandas

Python is the obvious choice for data manipulation, and pandas makes CSV processing trivial. It handles various encodings, missing values, and data types automatically.

Supabase

I chose Supabase over traditional databases and Firebase for several key reasons. Supabase offers zero configuration setup with auto-generated REST endpoints, eliminating the need for custom API code. The platform provides real-time capabilities with built-in subscriptions and an excellent Python client library for seamless database operations. Unlike Firebase's NoSQL approach, Supabase uses PostgreSQL, which offers more robust SQL capabilities and better data integrity - perfect for handling structured CSV data with complex queries and relationships.

Environment Variables (.env)

Security first! All sensitive credentials are stored in environment variables, never hardcoded in the source code.

Deep Dive: How the Magic Happens

Let me walk you through the core logic of the importer:

1. Secure Configuration Setup

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

load_dotenv() # Load environment variables from .env file

SUPABASE_URL = os.getenv("SUPABASE_URL")
SUPABASE_KEY = os.getenv("SUPABASE_KEY")

# Ensure credentials are loaded
if not SUPABASE_URL or not SUPABASE_KEY:
    raise ValueError("Supabase credentials not found. Make sure .env file is correctly configured.")

This approach ensures your API keys never end up in version control, which is crucial for security.

2. Intelligent Data Cleaning

# Convert all relevant columns to string type and replace 'nan' and empty strings with None
for col in df.columns:
    if col in supabase_schema_columns:
        df[col] = df[col].astype(str).replace('nan', None).replace('', None)

This step is crucial because:

Consistency: All data becomes strings, preventing type mismatches
Null Handling: Empty values become proper NULL in the database
Error Prevention: Avoids JSON serialization issues with NaN values

3. Flexible Column Mapping

column_mapping = {
    "product_id": "product_id",
    "product_name": "product_name",
    "category": "category",
    "price": "price",
    "stock_quantity": "stock_quantity",
    "last_updated": "last_updated",
}

This mapping system is the key to flexibility. Your CSV can have any column names - the script translates them to match your database schema.

4. Bulk Database Insertion

# Convert DataFrame to a list of dictionaries (JSON format) for Supabase insertion
records = df.to_dict(orient="records")

# Insert data into Supabase
res = supabase.table(TABLE_NAME).insert(records).execute()

The script converts the cleaned data to JSON format and performs a bulk insert, which is much more efficient than individual row insertions.

The Architecture: Clean and Modular

The script follows a clean architecture pattern:

Configuration Layer: Handles credentials and settings
Data Processing Layer: Cleans and transforms CSV data
Database Layer: Handles Supabase interactions
Error Handling Layer: Provides comprehensive error reporting

This modular approach makes the code maintainable and easy to extend.

Security: Best Practices Implemented

Security was a top priority in this project:

Environment Variables: All credentials stored in .env files
Git Ignore: .env files never committed to version control
Input Validation: Data validated before database insertion
Error Handling: Graceful failure without exposing sensitive information

Performance: Optimized for Scale

The script is designed for efficiency:

Bulk Operations: Single database transaction for all records
Memory Efficient: Processes data in chunks for large files
Error Recovery: Continues processing even if individual records fail

🔧 Customization: Adapt to Any Use Case

The beauty of this approach is its flexibility. Want to import customer data instead of products? Just update the column mapping:

column_mapping = {
    "customer_id": "customer_id",
    "name": "full_name",
    "email": "email_address",
    "phone": "phone_number",
    "city": "location",
}

The same script works for any tabular data!

Lessons Learned: What I'd Do Differently

Building this project taught me several valuable lessons:

Start with Security: Environment variables should be the first thing you implement
Plan for Errors: Comprehensive error handling saves hours of debugging
Document Everything: Good documentation makes your code accessible to others
Test with Real Data: Always test with actual data, not just sample data

The Impact: Beyond Just Data Import

This importer does more than just move data - it transforms your workflow:

Time Savings: What used to take hours now takes minutes
Data Quality: Consistent cleaning and validation
Scalability: Handle any number of CSV files
Reliability: Automated process reduces human error

Next Steps: What's Possible Now

With your data cleanly stored in Supabase, you can:

Build Web Applications: Query your data through Supabase's auto-generated APIs
Create Dashboards: Visualize your data with tools like Grafana or custom React apps
Set Up Real-time Updates: Use Supabase's real-time features for live data
Integrate with Other Services: Connect to analytics tools, CRMs, or business intelligence platforms

The Code: Open Source and Available

The complete source code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/Coderanger08/csv-to-database

The repository includes:

The main importer script
Sample CSV data for testing
Comprehensive documentation
Setup instructions

Conclusion: From Problem to Solution

This project started as a simple need to import CSV data, but it became something much more valuable - a reusable, secure, and efficient data pipeline.

The key insights:

Automation beats manual work every time
Security should be built-in, not an afterthought
Flexibility through configuration makes tools more valuable
Good documentation multiplies the impact of your code

Whether you're dealing with product inventories, customer data, or any other tabular information, having a reliable data import pipeline is a game-changer for productivity.

The best part? This approach scales. As your data needs grow, the same principles apply. You might add more data sources, implement more sophisticated cleaning rules, or integrate with additional services - but the foundation remains solid.

What's Next?

I'd love to hear about your data import challenges and how you've solved similar problems. Feel free to:

Star the repository if you find it useful
Open an issue if you encounter any problems
Submit a PR if you have improvements to suggest
Share your own solutions in the comments below

About the Author: I'm a developer passionate about building tools that solve real-world problems. You can find more of my projects on GitHub or connect with me on LinkedIn.

AI Chatbot with Role-Based Access Using Permit.io + Gemini (TIU ImpactHub Bot)

Irfan Faisal — Sun, 04 May 2025 07:07:05 +0000

🌟 Project Overview

This project is a university-focused chatbot built for the TIU Impact Hub — a student-led innovation and leadership community at Tokyo International University in Japan.

The chatbot is powered by Gemini AI, and integrates Permit.io to protect sensitive actions (like mass emailing) through fine-grained, externalized access control.

🔐 Why Permit.io?

Instead of hardcoding logic like if user.role === 'admin', I used Permit.io for:

✅ Role-based access (admin vs visitor)
✅ Externalized policy enforcement
✅ A future-ready structure for more scalable AI commands (e.g., Discord posting, Slack messages)

💻 Live App or Local Testing Instructions

This app currently runs locally (not yet deployed). You can easily test it with:

Backend

cd server
npm install
node server.js

** Frontend**

cd client
npm install
npm run dev

Test Accounts
Please use the following credentials for testing:
Admin

userId: admin
role: admin
password: 2025DEVChallenge

Visitor

userId: newuser
role: visitor
password: 2025DEVChallenge

These values are passed to the backend in the request body and evaluated by Permit.io to allow or block AI actions.

AI Features
Gemini AI chatbot: Responds only to TIU-related questions

/send_email command: Sends emails to all members — admin-only

Visitors are politely denied if they try restricted actions

Key Code Samples
Access Control Enforcement

const isAllowed = await checkPermission(userId, "send_email_to_members", role);
if (!isAllowed) {
  return res.json({ reply: "❌ You are not allowed to send emails." });
}

Gemini Prompt Injection

const systemPrompt = `
You are the official chatbot of TIU Impact Hub, a student-led innovation community...
Only answer questions related to TIU Impact Hub. Refuse politely otherwise.
`;

🔗 GitHub Repo
🔗 https://github.com/Coderanger08/TIUIH_chatbot.git

** Reflection**
Using Permit.io made it so easy to manage access control. It’s clean, centralized, and scalable — especially for future plans like posting to Discord or creating AI dashboards with more roles (mentor, manager, etc.).

No more spaghetti-role-checks in code — just clean policy logic.

Final Thoughts
Thanks to the Permit.io team and DEV for this opportunity!
I had fun building this and learned how to combine:

Gemini AI (text generation)
Role-based access (externalized)
Real-world functionality (email)

R Programming basics

Irfan Faisal — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 01:37:44 +0000

Quick notes on R

Datatypes

typeof(x) or class(x)– both returns the data type of variable. however, typeof(x) is tend to be more specific

x<-23.5
print(class(x))
>>>Numeric

print(typeof(x))
>>>double

length(x)– returns the length of a vector (list) or other objects: 1, or any other positive integer number.

print(x)– prints the value of x in console

R Objects

1.Vector: one-dimensional array containing elements of the same data type.

apple <- c('red','green',"yellow") #all character data types 
print(apple)

>>>red, green, yellow

2.List: ordered collection of elements that can be of different data types.

list1 <- list(c(2,5,3),21.3,5L) #contains vector, numeric, integer
print(list1)

3.Matrix: a two-dimensional array where all elements must be of the same data type.

M = matrix( c('a','a','b','c','b','a'), nrow = 2, ncol = 3, byrow = TRUE) print(M)
>>>
     [,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] "a"  "a"  "b" 
[2,] "c"  "b"  "a"

4.Array: a multi-dimensional data structure where all elements must be of the same data type.

a <- array(c('green','yellow'),dim = c(3,3,2)) 
print(a)

     [,1]     [,2]     [,3]    
[1,] "green"  "yellow" "green" 
[2,] "yellow" "green"  "yellow"
[3,] "green"  "yellow" "green" 

, , 2

     [,1]     [,2]     [,3]    
[1,] "yellow" "green"  "yellow"
[2,] "green"  "yellow" "green" 
[3,] "yellow" "green"  "yellow"

5.Data Frame: a two-dimensional, table-like structure where each column can hold data of a different type, making it similar to a spreadsheet or a SQL table.

BMI<-data.frame( gender = c("Male", "Male","Female"), 
height = c(152, 171.5, 165), 
weight = c(81,93, 78), 
Age = c(42,38,26) ) 

print(BMI)

>>>
  gender height weight Age
1   Male  152.0     81  42
2   Male  171.5     93  38
3 Female  165.0     78  26

Operators

1.+: adds two vectors.

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v+t)

>>[1] 10.0  8.5 10.0

2.-: Subtracts second vector from the first

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v-t)
>>[1] -6.0  2.5  2.0

3.*: Multiplies both vectors

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v*t)
>>[1] 16.0 16.5 24.0

4./: Divide the first vector with the second

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v/t)
>>[1] 0.250000 1.833333 1.500000

5.%%: Give the remainder of the first vector with the second

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v%%t)
>>[1] 2.0 2.5 2.0

6.%/%: The result of division of first vector with second (quotient)

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v%/%t)
>>[1] 0 1 1

7.^: The first vector raised to the power of second vector

v <-c( 2,5.5,6) 
t <-c(8, 3, 4) 
print(v^t)
>>[1]  256.000  166.375 1296.000

Relational Operators

1.>: Checks if each element of the first vector is greater than the corresponding element of the second vector

v <-c(2,5.5,6,9) 
t <-c(8,2.5,14,9) 
print(v>t)
>>[1] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE

2.<: Checks if each element of the first vector is less than the corresponding element of the second vector.

v <-c(2,5.5,6,9) 
t <-c(8,2.5,14,9) 
print(v < t)
>>[1]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE

3.==: Checks if each element of the first vector is equal to the corresponding element of the second vector.

v <-c(2,5.5,6,9) 
t <-c(8,2.5,14,9) 
print(v == t)
>>[1] FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE

4.<=: Checks if each element of the first vector is less than or equal to the corresponding element of the second vector.

v <-c(2,5.5,6,9) 
t <-c(8,2.5,14,9) 
print(v<=t)
>>[1]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE

5.!=: Checks if each element of the first vector is unequal to the corresponding element of the second vector.

v <-c(2,5.5,6,9) 
t <-c(8,2.5,14,9) 
print(v!=t)
>>[1]  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE

Miscellaneous Operators

1.:: Colon operator. It creates the series of numbers in sequence for a vector.

v <-1:8 
print(v)
>>[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

2.%in%: This operator is used to identify if an element belongs to a vector.

v1 <-8 
v2 <-12 
t <-1:10 
print(v1 %in% t) 
print(v2 %in% t)
>>[1] TRUE
[1] FALSE

%*%: This operator is used to multiply a matrix with its transpose.

M = matrix( c(2,6,5,1,10,4), nrow= 2,ncol = 3,byrow = TRUE) 
Q = M %*% t(M) 
print(Q)
>>
     [,1] [,2]
[1,]   65   82
[2,]   82  117

Condition

x <- c("what","is","truth") 
if("Truth" %in% x) {
 print("Truth is found the first time") 
} else if ("truth" %in% x) {
 print("truth is found the second time") 
} else { print("There is no Truth in your code ")
 }
>>[1] "truth is found the second time"

For Loop

A For loop is a repetition control structure that allows you to efficiently write a loop that needs to execute a specific number of times.

a=c(1:5) 
for ( i in a) 
 {
 print(i) 
}
>>
1
2
3
4
5

While Loop

The While loop executes the same code again and again until a stop condition is met.

v ="Hello, while loop" 
cnt = 2 
while (cnt < 7) {
 print(v) 
cnt = cnt + 1 
}
>>
[1] "Hello, while loop"
[1] "Hello, while loop"
[1] "Hello, while loop"
[1] "Hello, while loop"
[1] "Hello, while loop"

Next: to skip the current iteration of a loop without terminating it.

Break: the loop is immediately terminated

Basic Functions

1) readline(): to get input from user
2) as.integer(): converts into integer
3) as.numeric(): converts into numeric

Power Automate: Automate your life pt.2

Irfan Faisal — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 02:59:38 +0000

Hi everyone! This is the part 2 of our Power automate tutorial series. In this tutorial, we'll talk about the rest of the tutorial.

3) Time Tracking & Activity Logging
Track how long you use certain apps (e.g., Word, VS Code) and log the usage to a file for productivity analysis.

4) Clipboard & Text Automation
Monitor what you copy, log it to a file, or turn it into quick notes — perfect for saving research highlights or repetitive text snippets.

5) Automate Routine Daily Tasks
Schedule PAD flows to run automatically at specific times (like launching your planner at 7 AM or logging reflections at 10 PM), so your day starts and ends with focus — without you doing anything manually.

Let's start!

Tutorial 3: Time Tracking & Activity Logging

In this tutorial, we'll make a power automate flow that will track how long a specific app(e.g., VS Code) is running, and log the total usage time to a .txt file automatically when it closes. This is perfect for tracking study time, coding sessions, or focused work blocks. Now let's get started!

STEP 1: Create a New Flow

Open Power Automate Desktop
Click New Flow
Name it: Track VS Code Usage and click Create

STEP 2: Get Start Time

Search: Get current date and time
Drag it to the top
Save it as: StartTime

STEP 3: Wait Until App (e.g., VS Code) Closes

Search: "Wait for process to end"
Drag it under StartTime
Set: Process name: Code.exe (for VS Code — change for other apps)

This step pauses the flow until VS Code is closed.

STEP 4: Get End Time

Search: Get current date and time
Save it as: EndTime

STEP 5: Calculate Time Difference

Search: "Subtract dates"
Set:

From date: %EndTime%

Subtract date: %StartTime%

Get difference in: Minutes

This gives you the time spent using the app.

STEP 6: Format the log entry

Use Set Variable

Name: LogEntry

Value: Used VS Code for %TimeDifference% minute(s) on %StartTime%

Step 7: Append to a Log File

Action: Append line to text file

File path: e.g., C:\Users\YourName\Documents\usage_log.txt

Text to append: %LogEntry%

Well Done! Now every time you run this flow, It waits for you to open VS Code then times how long it's running then logs the result once you close the app!

Tutorial 4: Clipboard & Text Automation

In this tutorial, we will build an automation flow that will monitor what you copy (Ctrl+C), and log each copied text into a .txt file — perfect for saving useful links, research notes, or ideas on the go.

Now let's get started!

STEP 1: Create a New Flow

Open Power Automate Desktop
Click New Flow
Name it: Clipboard Logger and click Create

STEP 2: Initialize LastClipboardText (Before Loop)

Action: Set Variable
Name: LastClipboardText
Value: "" (empty string)

This ensures we have something to compare against — and it must be before the loop, not inside.

STEP 3: Create a Loop That Keeps Running

Search: Loop and choose: Loop condition
Condition: First operand: 1 Operator: equals Second operand: 1

This creates an infinite loop to keep checking clipboard content.

STEP 4: Get Current Clipboard Text

Inside the loop, search for: Get clipboard text
Drag it inside the loop
Save output to: %ClipboardText%

STEP 5: Compare With Previously Saved Text

We don’t want to log duplicate clipboard values — so let’s compare with the last copied text.

Inside Loop: Check if New Text ≠ Last Text
Action: If
First operand: %ClipboardText%
Operator: Does not equal
Second operand: %LastClipboardText%

This ensures only new copied text gets logged.

STEP 6: Log the Clipboard Text

Inside the If block:

Get Current Date & Time

Action: Get current date and time
Output variable: CurrentTime
Format Log Entry

Action: Set Variable
Name: LogEntry
Value: %CurrentTime% — %ClipboardText%
Append to a File

i. search for action: Write text to file
ii. Drag it into your flow inside the If block (after Set LogEntry)
iii. set value like this:

File path: C:\Users\YourName\Documents\clipboard_log.txt
Text to write: %LogEntry%
Append content to existing file: ✔️ Check this box
If file exists: Append content to existing file
Encoding: Unicode or UTF-8 (both fine)

Update LastClipboardText

Action: Set Variable
Variable: LastClipboardText
Value: %ClipboardText%

STEP 7: Add a Short Delay to Avoid Overload

Action: Delay
Duration: 2 seconds (or even 1)

Done! Now this turns your clipboard into a smart, passive note-taker. Anytime you copy something — a quote, code snippet, research point, or idea — it’s automatically saved to a log file with a timestamp, without interrupting your workflow.

Tutorial 5: Automate Routine Daily Tasks

In our daily lives, we need to use many software on a frequent basis. For example, Google Calendar, Notes, Notion, Weather etc. In this tutorial, we'll build an automation flow that will automatically start your productivity apps at specific times without the need for manual setup.

Let's get started!

Step 1: Create the Flow in PAD

Open Power Automate Desktop
Click New Flow
Name it "Launch Daily Planner" and click create.

Step 2: Open Google Calendar

Search: Launch new Chrome
Drag into your flow
Set: URL: https://calendar.google.com Window state: Normal Target Desktop: Local Computer

**Step 3: Open Weather Forecast

Search: Launch new Chrome
Drag it below the first Chrome action
Set: URL: https://weather.com/weather/today/l/your-location-code (You can use your city or Google Weather like https://www.google.com/search?q=weather+tokyo) Window state: Normal Target Desktop: Local Computer

Step 4: Open Notepad

Search: Run application
Drag into the flow
Set: Application path: C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe

Step 6: Save Your Flow

Click the Save icon (💾) in the top bar

Well done! Now whenever you run this flow, this will automatically open Google Calendar, A weather page or Notepad with your to-do list and you won't have to open these programs manually!

That's it! We have successfully completed 5 amazing automation flows using Power Automate to automate your daily life. Now you can navigate your daily life in a more smarter way! Do these projects and amaze your friends.

Let me know if you have any questions or feedbacks in the comments. Happy Learning!

Power Automate: Automate your life pt.1

Irfan Faisal — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 05:26:11 +0000

Power Automate is a tool by Microsoft that lets you automate repetitive tasks across your computer and cloud apps — without writing code.

It comes in two versions:

A) Power Automate (Cloud) – automates tasks between services like Outlook, Excel, Teams, Google Drive, etc.

B) Power Automate for Desktop (PAD) – automates tasks on your local computer, like opening apps, organizing files, clicking buttons, or filling out forms.

As we all are very busy in our lives, automation will surely help us to catch a break. To automate your daily lives, Power Automate by Microsoft will work like a charm. In this tutorial, we'll focus on Power Automate for Desktop (PAD). Here is a list of use cases of PAD:

1) File & Folder Organization
Automatically move, rename, or sort files in your Downloads or Documents folder based on type, date, or name.

2) Break Reminders & Daily Notifications
Show pop-up messages at scheduled times (e.g., every 2 hours) to remind you to take breaks, hydrate, or refocus.

3) Time Tracking & Activity Logging
Track how long you use certain apps (e.g., Word, VS Code) and log the usage to a file for productivity analysis.

4) Automate Routine Daily Tasks
Schedule PAD flows to run automatically at specific times (like launching your planner at 7 AM or logging reflections at 10 PM), so your day starts and ends with focus — without you doing anything manually.

5) Clipboard & Text Automation
Monitor what you copy, log it to a file, or turn it into quick notes — perfect for saving research highlights or repetitive text snippets.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to do all of these in Power Automate for Desktop.

But first,

System Configuration:

Windows Operating System
Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, or Education) or 11
Install Power Automate for Desktop
Download from the official Microsoft site:
Microsoft Account (Optional but Recommended)
Needed if you want to:

Sync with Power Automate cloud flows

You can still use PAD locally without logging in

Internet Connection Required for installation, updates, and integration with cloud services

Not needed for running offline desktop flows (like file organization, launching apps, etc.)

Tutorial 1: File & Folder Organizer

In this tutorial we’ll build a File & Folder Organizer that automatically cleans up your Downloads folder by moving files into categorized folders based on their file type.

📄 PDFs → Documents\PDFs
🖼️ Images → Pictures\Screenshots
🗜️ ZIP/EXE → Downloads\Installers

STEP 1: Create a New Flow

Open Power Automate Desktop
Click New Flow
Name it: Organize Downloads and click Create

STEP 2: Set the Source Folder

Search: Get files in folder
Drag it into the flow
Set: Folder path: C:\Users\YOURNAME\Downloads File Filter: Only move images -> .jpg;.png;.jpeg Only sort PDFs -> *.pdf Only install files -> *.exe;.zip All files -> Leave blank or .

Include subfolders: ❌ (Uncheck)
Save to variable: DownloadedFiles

STEP 3: Loop Through Each File

Search: For each
Drag For Each into the flow
Set: Value to iterate: %DownloadedFiles% Variable name: CurrentFile

STEP 4: Check File Type and Move

Inside the loop, add "If" condition blocks to detect the file extension:

First operand -> Text.EndsWith(%CurrentFile%, ".png") OR
Text.EndsWith(%CurrentFile%, ".jpg") OR
Text.EndsWith(%CurrentFile%, ".jpeg") OR
Text.EndsWith(%CurrentFile%, ".zip") OR
Text.EndsWith(%CurrentFile%, ".exe")

Operator -> leave default (it becomes a full expression)
Second operand -> (leave blank — not needed in this format)

Add the Move File Action Inside the If Block
Search "Move File" and drag inside if block
Fill in like this:

File to move: %CurrentFile%
Destination folder: C:\Users\YourName\Documents\PDFs (or Pictures\Screenshots, etc.)

STEP 5: Save & Test

Click Save
Run the flow with a messy Downloads folder 🎯
Watch files move into their proper folders automatically!

Tutorial 2: Automate Break Reminders & Daily Notifications

Our automation will show a popup message every 1 hour during the day that reminds you to:

💡 "Time for a break! Stand up, stretch, drink water, and breathe."

Step 1: Create a New Flow

Open Power Automate for Desktop
Click New Flow (at left above)
Name it: Break Timer Reminder nad click Create

STEP 2: Add a Loop to Repeat Forever

In the left panel, search for "Loop condition"
Drag it into your flow
Fill in like this: [First Operand=1, Operator=equals, Second Operand=1]

This creates an infinite loop that keeps running until you stop it manually.

STEP 3: Add a 2-Hour Wait Inside the Loop

Inside the loop, drag in the action "Wait"
Set: [Duration: 3600, Unit: Seconds]

This will pause the flow for 1 hour before the next reminder.

STEP 4: Add the Break Reminder Message

Drag the action Display message below the Wait, still inside the loop.
Fill it out: [Title: Break Reminder, Message:💡 Time for a break!\nStand up, stretch, drink water, and breathe. Icon: Information Buttons: OK]

STEP 5: Save and Test Your Flow

Click the Save icon (💾)
Click Run ▶️ to test it

From here, it will wait 1 hour, then show the message forever — unless you stop the flow.

Done! You now have a personalized automated wellness assistant reminding you to take breaks!

These two tutorials are for today. In the next tutorial, we'll talk about the rest of the tutorials.

If you have any questions or feedbacks, let me know in the comments. Happy Learning!

Python Basics 7: String part 2- String Functions and ASCII Code

Irfan Faisal — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 09:15:31 +0000

There are a number of functions in python string library. String functions don't change the string itself, they return a modified string. These functions saves us a lot of time.

Syntax: string_name.function_name()

lower(): returns a copy string with all lower case letter.

line='Hello World'
temp= line.lower()
print(temp)
>> hello world

upper(): returns a copy string with all upper case letter.

text = 'Hello World'
temp = text.upper()
print(temp)

Output:
HELLO WORLD

Capitalize(): capitalize the first letter of the string

s="python is fun"
c=s.capitalize()
print(c)
>>Python is fun

title(): capitalize each word of the title(string)

s="hello world"
c=s.title()
print(c)
>>Hello World

strip(): returns a copy string with all whitespace removed before and after letters.

text = '   Hello    World
   '
temp = text.strip()
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
   Hello    World  
Hello   World

lstrip(): Returns a copy string with all whitespace remove before(left side) letters.

text = '    Hello   World
    '
temp = text.lstrip()
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
    Hello     World 
Hello   World

rstrip(): Returns a copy string with all whitespace remove after(right side) letters. Ex:

 text = '     Hello     World
    '
temp = text.lstrip()
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
    Hello     World 
    Hello     World

count(substring): returns total occurrence of that substring, Ex:

text = 'Banana'
temp = text.count('a')
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
Banana
3

startswith(substring): returns True if the string starts with given substring. Ex:

text = 'Hello'
temp = text.startswith('He')
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
Hello
True

endswith(substring): returns True if the string ends with the given substring. Ex:


text = 'Hello'
temp =text.endswith('hi')
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
Hello
False

find(substring): returns the index of first occurrence of that substring.

Ex:
text = 'Banana'
temp = text.find('a')
print(text)
print(temp)

Output:
Banana
1

replace(oldstring, newstring): replace every instance of oldstring with new string. Ex:

text = 'Hello'
temp = text.replace('l','nt')
print(text)
print(temp)
Output:

Hello
Hentnto

dir('This is a string') / dir(' '):Get to see all the string functions present in python.

You can use two methods together.
Name=name.strip().title()

ASCII Code

=> Machines do not understand text, not even decimals. Machines just understand binary.
If we write "a"(string), it won't understand. To understand, machines convert them into binary. In that case, to convert string into binary, we first need to convert strings into numbers. So then comes ASCII.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a code for representing English characters as numbers assigned from 0 to 127.

ord and chr

Ord: ord function returns the corresponding ASCII value of a character.

Ord('a')
>> 97

Ord('b')
>> 98

Chr: chr function returns the corresponding string of a number.

Chr(97)
>>a

ASCII Code Table

Example Problem
Now, we'll try to use our knowledge of functions and ASCII code with an example problem.

Problem: In this problem, you'll ask the user for writing something in uppercase and your code will return the same text in lowercase. Here we're expecting that the user will provide a text and nothing else.

Solution 1: Using default .lower() function

def uppercase_to_lowercase():

    #Prompts the user to input text in uppercase and prints the text in lowercase.

    uppercase = input("Write something in uppercase: ")
    lowercase = uppercase.lower()
    print(lowercase)

# Call the function
uppercase_to_lowercase()


#output
#Write something in uppercase: "HELLO,WORLD!"
#hello,world!

Solution 2:Without using default .lower() function

Now, let's try to solve this problem in a different way. This time we'll not use the default .lower() function. You may ask why we need to solve this problem without the default function whereas default function is there to make our life easier. That's true but it's also a nice practice to understand how these default function works. When you understand the core mechanics of these functions it will develop your programming skill.

So, we'll try to convert our text into lowercase using ASCII value.

test="MICROsoft"
lower=""
for i in test:
  if 65<=ord(i)<=90:
    lower+=chr(ord(i)+32)
  else:
    lower+=i
print(lower)

This solution will work even if there's any small letters in the capitalized string.

Brainstorm: Think about why we have done additon of 32 in the code? Look at the ASCII code picture to think about

So, this is all for today. I hope now you can use the string default functions whenever you need. And you also have an idea how to solve problem even if you dont know the functions using ASCII code. Happy coding!

Python Basics 7: String part 1- Introduction

Irfan Faisal — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 10:05:10 +0000

What is String?

=> String is a sequence of ordered characters(alphabets-lower case, upper case, numeric values, special symbols etc.) in a program.

It is represented with quotation marks(single('), double(") or triple(' ' '/" " ") at the beginning and the end. You can use either one you want.

Example:

"Hello World"
'CSE is awesome'
"Not a valid string'(must follow one type of quotation marks)

String inside a string

To write a string inside a string, you need to use different types of quotation marks. It means that if you have a substring inside a string that is surrounded by double quotation marks, then use single quotation mark to represent the main string and vice versa.

Ex: "This is a valid 'string' because it maintains the order"
'String inside a 'string' like this not allowed'

You can also use 'Escape Sequence' for that:
*If you have some special character inside your string that might confuse the interpreter, you can use 'Escape sequence' to clarify. Escape sequence tells the interpreter to consider the character following the backslash as a printable character.

Ex: "I love the movie \"Shang-chi\" "
'She said that Aren\'t you going to late for work?'

More facts about string:

A single character is also a string. Ex: "P", 'P'
String is case sensitive. Ex: "A" and 'a' are two different strings.
Space is also a string. Ex: " " and ' ' are strings.
Empty string- where nothing is between the quotation marks. Ex: "" and ''
"1" is not an integer, it's a string!

String Mutability:

This is a very important concept of string. Strings are immutable. Once a string is created the characters in it can't be changed/deleted/altered. So each time we have to modify a string, we need to make a copy of the original one and make changes to the duplicate one.

Sentence= "Loving CSE110'

Sentence[0]= "M"

TypeError: 'str' doesn't support item alignment.(here, we're trying to change the string but we can't alter any of the characters in the string)

*However, we can change the entire string.

s='I am Baymax'

Print(s)
s='I am Superman'
Print(s)=> Here, we have stored a completely different string in s variable.

Deletion

'del' = keyword to unbind reference to a string, It will delete a string from its variable.

Ex:

s='I love CSE'

Print(s)
Del(s)
Print(s)

>>> I love CSE
Error


*We can't delete a character from a string.

s='I am 007'
 del(s[0])

>>> ERROR

String Membership

We can use 'in' keyword to find if there is occurrence of any substring in a given string(whether a string is present inside another string or not).

Ex:

'bay' in 'ebay'
>>True

'bay' not in 'ebay'
>>False

*It can be used in 'if statement' as condition.

S1= 'I am Loki'
S2='am'
If S2 in S1:
    Print(found)
Else:
    Print(not found)

>>>found

This is all for today about string. In next part, we'll discuss more about string and it's functions. Then we'll try to solve some problems. Till then, keep practicing. Happy coding!

Python Basics 6: Loops part 2

Irfan Faisal — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 23:15:46 +0000

Hello everyone! This is our 2nd part of python loop series.
Part 1 is here:
https://dev.to/coderanger08/python-loops-1-5dho

In this week, we'll discuss more about while and for loop, break and pass statements, range function and many more. Let's get started.

Infinite Loop:

An infinite loop is a scenario when a loop runs indefinitely because the condition is always true(while) or the sequence never ends(for). Infinite loop will run forever when the terminating condition has never been met.

count=5
while count>=1:
    print(count)
    count+=1

This while loop is an infinite loop. Think why?

Technically, an infinite loop is a bug(error). You can stop infinite loop manually by terminating the program or using break statement.
However, sometimes infinite loop can be useful in many ways.

Web servers and background services use infinite loops to continuously listen for and handle requests.
Infinite loops in game keep the game running, updating the game state, and rendering frames until the player exits.
Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) use infinite loops to repeatedly prompt the user for input until they choose to exit.

Break Statement

To stop an infinite loop or an usual loop, you can use the break statement.

count=1
while count>=1:
    print(count)
    count+=1
    if count==5:
        break #this will stop the loop here

>>1
2
3
4

Continue Statement

Continue is a little different way to stop a loop. By using continue, you can stop or skip the loop only for that iteration. The loop will start to run again from next iteration.

flowers=["lily","orchid","rose","jasmine"]
for element in flowers:
   if element=="rose":
       continue #it won't print rose
   print(element)

>>
lily
orchid
jasmine

Pass Statement

If we want to write the codes in a (if/else statement, loop block) later, it'll show an error because of empty block. In that case, we can use pass statement. It'll pass that instructions and move on to the next part.

Pass statement is a null statement.
Interpreter does not ignore a pass statement
Empty code is not allowed in loops, function definitions, class definitions or in if statements. To avoid error we use pass statement.

Ex:

Nums=[1,2,3,4,5]
For val in nums:
    Pass    #it will pass the iteration and won't execute anything
#other lines of the code

Else Statement in a loop:
Unlike languages like C,CPP.. we can use else for loops. When the loop condition of "for" or "while" statement fails then code part in "else" is executed.

count = 0
while count < 5:
    print(count)
    count += 1
else:
    print("The while loop completed without a break.")

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
for fruit in fruits:
    print(fruit)
else:
    print("The for loop completed without a break.")

If a break statement is executed inside the for loop then the "else" part is skipped. Note that the "else" part is executed even if there is a continue statement.

count = 0
while count < 5:
    print(count)
    count += 1
    if count == 3:
        break
else:
    print("This will not be printed because the loop was broken.")

Here, the else block is not executed because the while loop is terminated by a break statement when count is 3.

Range Function

Syntax: range(start, stop, step)

Range() generates the integer numbers between a given start integer to a stop integer.
A start integer is a starting number of the sequence. By default, it starts with 0 if not specified.
A stop argument is an upper limit. Range() function generates numbers up to this number but not including this number.
Start number is included but stop number is excluded.
The step is a difference between each number in the result. The default value of the step is 1 if not specified.
All the arguments (start, stop, step) must be integers.

Ex: range(1,6) => [1,2,3,4,5] {it generates a sequence of integers from 1 to 5, but not 6}

Note: print(range(1,6)) will not print any numbers.

#printing 1 to 5
For num in range(1,6,1):
    Print(num,end=",")
>>1
2
3
4
5

#printing 5 to 1 backwards:
For num in range(1,6,-1):
    Print(num, end=",")
>>5
4
3
2
1

Nested Loop

Nested Loop is a loop that is contained within another loop. The "inner loop" runs completely for each iteration of the "outer loop".

rows=int(input())

for i in range(rows+1):#outer loop
  for j in range(i):#inner loop
    print(i,end=' ')
  print()
>>
1
2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5

With this, I will wrap up python loop. I hope this series on 'Loop' helped you to have a quick overview or brush up your knowledge about this topic.
Here are 3 problems for you to solve on python loops. Solve these problems and share your solution in the comments. Happy coding!

Problems

Write a Python program to check if the given string is a palindrome.(Palindrome is a word or sequence that reads the same forward and backward)
Write a Python program to check if the number is prime or not.(A prime number is a number which is only divisible by 1 and itself)
Display a Fibonacci sequence up to 10 terms. The Fibonacci Sequence is a series of numbers where the next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it. The first two numbers are 0 and 1.

Your task is to write a python program of a Fibonacci sequence of first 10 terms.
(Output: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34)

Python Basics 6: Loops part 1

Irfan Faisal — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 22:20:04 +0000

Hey everyone! I'm back with another new Python lesson for this week. This week we will study about loops. Loops are really important topic in any programming language. By understanding loops, you'll be able to perform tedious and long work in a matter of seconds. So you can realize how important loops are. So let's dive into it.

Why do we need loops?
Let's try to understand loop with a problem. Suppose, you're the class representative of your class and the professor has given you the responsibility of finding out the average grade in your class from the database.
Now your class has 30 students. So there are 30 grades in the database. For now, let's assume, the grades are stored in a single variable as a list. (we'll talk more about "lists" later)
Now it's surely going to take a long time to find out the average grade manually. So in this case, loops come into play. Loops will allow you to execute this tedious task in a small matter of time.

So what is loop actually?

A Python loop is a control structure that repeatedly executes a block of codes as long as a specified condition is met or for each item in a sequence.

So in simple words, loop helps us to perform repeated tasks.

Based on this definition, python loop is of two types.
1) For loop
2) While loop

For Loop:
We use for loop to iterate over each elements in a sequence(string, list, tuple, dictionary, etc.) The loop will start from index 0 of the sequence and will run until the last item of that sequence.

for items in sequence:
    repetitive work or block of statements

Let's solve the problem using for loop

#Here are our grades of 30 students
grades = [85, 92, 78, 88, 91, 76, 95, 89, 83, 77,
          90, 82, 84, 79, 87, 93, 81, 80, 86, 94,
          75, 88, 85, 92, 78, 89, 77, 84, 91, 76]


sum=0
for item in grades:
    sum=sum+item

average=sum/len(grades)

print(average)

First, we have a variable named sum, where we'll store the sum of all grades. Then we have a for loop. The loop will start from index 0 item until the last item. In each iteration, it's going to add each item to the sum. Outside of this for loop's block, we will count the average by dividing the sum with no of grades(len function tells us how many items are in the list-more about this later).

While loop

In while loop, as long as the condition is true, the loop is going to iterate the block of codes. The moment, the condition is false, the loop is going to stop.

while condition is true:
    do something repeatedly

Let's solve the same problem using while loop:

grades = [85, 92, 78, 88, 91, 76, 95, 89, 83, 77,
          90, 82, 84, 79, 87, 93, 81, 80, 86, 94,
          75, 88, 85, 92, 78, 89, 77, 84, 91, 76]

sum = 0
index = 0

while index < len(grades):
    sum += grades[index]
    index += 1

average = sum / len(grades)

print(average)

Note: Here in this solution, you may notice some functions that we have not explained before. We'll talk more about those briefly in list lesson.

So here in this solution, we've declared a new variable index alongside sum. Index variable help us to access the items of the grades list which gets incremented in each loop(index +=1). In while loop, the condition is as long as the index is less than the number of items in grades list, the loop will run and calculate the sum. grades[index] allow us access to the items of the list which is called indexing. The rest of the code is similar to for loop's solution.

This will be the end of part 1 of Python loops. In the next part, we'll discuss more about loops.

Summary:

Python loop is a structure that helps with repeated tasks
For loop will iterate over each elements in a sequence(string,list,tuple,dictionary etc.)
While loop will iterate as long as the condition is true.

Practice Problem
Here's a list of 20 numbers:
num_list=[100, 82, 96, 4, 44, 27, 13, 45, 96, 21, 26, 71, 22, 19, 57, 69, 97, 34, 21, 92]

Calculate the average of all the even numbers of the given list.

Solve this problem for both For and While loop and share your answer in the comments. Happy Coding!

Python Basics 5: Conditionals

Irfan Faisal — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 06:46:14 +0000

Hey guys! Welcome again! Today we're gonna learn about conditionals. Python conditional is one of the core topics in learning python as a beginner and it is also really important for further topics. So understanding conditional is your top priority. With any further ado, let's get started.

What is conditional

First, let's imagine a real-world scenario. We all in our lives face any situation where we need to make a decision based on a condition. Like it's really common to say,
"If it rains, we won't play".
So you can see that here's the possibility of playing depending on if it rains or not. Here we're making a decision based on a condition.

Similarly, in programming, sometimes we also need to execute a block of code based on a decision or a program will run if it satisfies a condition. Basically this concept is known as 'Conditionals'. Now let's dive into it!

For conditionals, in python program, there are if, elif and else statements to perform this decision-making programs. We'll learn all of these one by one.

We'll try to understand conditional through a simple project:

Let's try to make a ticket system for a rollercoaster ride.

We have the following conditions:

If your height is over 120cm, you ride the rollercoaster.
If your height is less than 120cm, you can't ride the rollercoaster.
Your height is over 120cm but you're less than 12 years old, pay 4$
Your height is over 120cm but you're less than 18 years old, pay 6$
Your height is over 120cm but you're over 18 years old, pay 8$

To implement this real-life scenario into code, we need decision-making features. For that we're going to use conditionals.

Conditionals have if-else, if-elif-else statements. First, let's go over with the basic syntax of if-else.

If-else statement:

if (condition):
    Block of codes
else:
    Block of codes

In 'if' statement it contains a condition and a block of codes.
If the condition is true then our program will enter the body of 'if' statement and execute it. Otherwise if it is false, then it will go to the else statement and execute it.

Here points to be noted, the colon after the condition is mendatory and the body of if statement had to follow indentation.
Now we'll look at what indentation is.

What is indentation?

In many cases, there are multiple lines of code under one condition. The usual approach is to define a group of multiple statements into one compound statement or block.A block is regarded syntactically as a single entity. So whenever a condition is true this block will be executed otherwise not.

To define a block there is a convention in python which is known as indentation. So basically indentation is the leading whitespace before a statement in python. Traditionally the amount of whitespace is four(you also can use tab button in the keybaord). The statements that have the same indentation level(same amount of whitespaces before them) are considered as a block of code in python.
Whenever a statement breaks this indentation the block ends there.

Let's implement if-else for our problem

if height>=120:
    print("You can ride the rollercoaster")
else:
    print("you can't ride the rollercoaster")

if-elif-else:

We have three more conditions to fulfill, right? We're going to use elif(else-if) statement to exmecute them.

When your if condition is false and you want to add another condition, you can use elif statement.

if (condition 1):
    Block of codes
elif (condition 2):
    Block of codes
else:
    Block of codes

if condition 1 is true, it's going to execute the first block of codes. If it's false, then it will go to condition 2 of elif statement. If it's true then it will execute the second block of codes, otherwise it will go to else if it's false.

Point to be noted: the rest of the three conditions are dependent on whether the first condition is executed or not. That's why we're also going to use nested if statements. Nested means having other if statements under one if statement.

if (condition 1):
    Block of codes
    if condition:
        Block of codes
    else:
        Block of codes
else:
    Block of codes

Let's implement all of these for our problem

if height>=120:
    print("You can ride the rollercoaster")
    age=int(input("Enter your age:"))
    if age <= 12:
        print("Ticket price:4$")
    elif age <= 18:
        print("Ticket price:6$")
    else:
        print("Ticket price:$8")
else:
    print("you can't ride the rollercoaster")

There you go! I hope this blog helps you to understand conditionals. Now I have a problem for you to solve.

Practice problem

Write a program that interprets the Body Mass Index (BMI) based on a user's weight and height.
BMI=weight(kg)/height**2(m)

It should tell them the interpretation of their BMI based on the BMI value.

Under 18.5 they are underweight
Equal to or over 18.5 but below 25 they have a normal weight
Equal to or over 25 but below 30 they are slightly overweight
Equal to or over 30 but below 35 they are obese
Equal to or over 35 they are clinically obese.

Use input functions to take weight and height input from the user.
Important: you do not need to round the result to the nearest whole number. It's fine to print out a floating point number for this exercise.

Solve this problem and share your code in the comments.
Happy coding!

Python Basics 4: Input Function

Irfan Faisal — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 21:36:36 +0000

Input Function:
For taking input from the user directly, Python has a special built-in function, input(). It takes a string as a prompt argument, and it is optional. It is used to display information or messages to the user regarding the input.

syntax: input("A prompt for the user")

Suppose you're building a program where you need to know the name of the user. You can use the input function to do that.
name=input("What's your name?")

Inside the input, we write the prompt, which will be displayed in the terminal to the user. Then user can write their input.

input() pauses program execution to allow the user to type in a line of input from the keyboard. After typing, the user needs to press the ENTER key otherwise, the program will be waiting for the user's input indefinitely.

Once the user presses the Enter key, all characters typed are read, stored in the variable (name), and returned as a string.
(remember this, we'll talk about type conversion briefly!)

Now, let's suppose you also want to ask the user's age. As usual, you wrote your program like this:
age=input("Enter your age:")

If your program is executed like this, at first glance, you won't see any problems with the code. However, the problem will arise when you want to do calculations with this age.

age=input("Enter your age:")
print(age+10)

#TypeError: can only concatenate str (not "int") to str

Why did this error occur? So technically, your age variable never stored an integer in the first place.

print(type(age)) #output: <class 'str'>
As you can see your age variable has stored the input as a string. And you can't do calculations between string and integer.

In order to solve the problem, you need to convert your string variable into integer. Which is called Type Conversion or Casting.

How can you do that?
First, write down your datatype that you want to convert into. Then, use your input function to take input from the user.

age=int(input("Enter your age"))

This way, now your age variable will convert string into integer and store that. And now you can do calculations.

More Examples: float()- to convert into float, str()=to convert into string etc.

This type of type conversion is known as ;Explicit Casting, which is done by us, the programmars.

Implicit Casting: It is done by python. Here, python automatically changes between data types.

Ex:

x=10(Integer)
x+=10.5
Print(x) >>> 20.5(Float)
Print(type(x)) >>> <class 'float'>

Here, python automatically changed integer into float .

The input function is one of the most used functions in python. You can make your program more user-oriented by using input function.

Forem: Irfan Faisal

Connecting Gemini CLI to Docker MCP — Build Your Own AI Tool Ecosystem

What are MCP Server and MCP Client?

Step 1: Install Docker

Step 2: Install Node.js.

Step 3: Install Gemini CLI Globally

Step 4: Docker MCP

Step 5: Gemini CLI as MCP client

Step 6: We're ready!

Building a Universal CSV to Supabase Importer: From Messy Data to Structured Database

The Problem: Data Ingestion Nightmare

The Solution: Automated Data Pipeline

The Tech Stack: Why These Choices?

Python + Pandas

Supabase

Environment Variables (.env)

Deep Dive: How the Magic Happens

1. Secure Configuration Setup

2. Intelligent Data Cleaning

3. Flexible Column Mapping

4. Bulk Database Insertion

The Architecture: Clean and Modular

Security: Best Practices Implemented

Performance: Optimized for Scale

🔧 Customization: Adapt to Any Use Case

Lessons Learned: What I'd Do Differently

The Impact: Beyond Just Data Import

Next Steps: What's Possible Now

The Code: Open Source and Available

Conclusion: From Problem to Solution

What's Next?

Related Links

AI Chatbot with Role-Based Access Using Permit.io + Gemini (TIU ImpactHub Bot)

🌟 Project Overview

🔐 Why Permit.io?

💻 Live App or Local Testing Instructions

R Programming basics

Quick notes on R

Operators

Relational Operators

Miscellaneous Operators

Condition

For Loop

While Loop

Power Automate: Automate your life pt.2

Tutorial 3: Time Tracking & Activity Logging

Tutorial 4: Clipboard & Text Automation

Tutorial 5: Automate Routine Daily Tasks

Power Automate: Automate your life pt.1

Tutorial 1: File & Folder Organizer

Tutorial 2: Automate Break Reminders & Daily Notifications

Python Basics 7: String part 2- String Functions and ASCII Code

ASCII Code

ord and chr

Python Basics 7: String part 1- Introduction

What is String?

String inside a string

More facts about string:

String Mutability:

Deletion

String Membership

Python Basics 6: Loops part 2

Infinite Loop:

Break Statement

Continue Statement

Pass Statement

Range Function

Nested Loop

Problems

Python Basics 6: Loops part 1

Python Basics 5: Conditionals

What is conditional

Practice problem

Python Basics 4: Input Function