Search

VPN Antivirus Online backup Streaming Blog

More Comparisons News About Us

ByNet
Use Reviews
Admin » Python network programming cheat sheet

ByWe
OS/Device
are fundedBy by OS/Device
our readers and may receive a commission when you buy using links on our site.

By CountryGuides
Python network programming cheat sheet
Guides Compare providers
Reviews Writer Tim Keary
Network Security and Administration Expert
Updated: February 11, 2025

We’ve analyzed the docs to create a complete Python Network

Programming Cheat Sheet, available in JPG, PDF, and HTML for quick
download.

Python network programming involves using Python to

communicate and interact with network protocols, servers,
and clients. It plays a crucial role in developing applications
ranging from simple data exchanges to complex distributed
systems, making it an essential skill for developers working
on web development, IoT, cloud services, and cybersecurity.

Python’s rich standard library and a vast ecosystem of third-

party libraries make it an excellent choice for network
programming. Modules like socket, http, and asyncio
provide powerful tools for building networking applications.
For more advanced requirements, libraries such as
requests, Twisted, and scapy allow for streamlined
development and specialized use cases like HTTP requests,
asynchronous communication, and packet manipulation.

The foundation of network programming in Python begins

with understanding the socket module, which provides an
:
 interface for creating and managing connections using the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram
Protocol (UDP). Sockets enable data exchange between
devices on a network and are a cornerstone of building
client-server architectures. Developers can use sockets to
implement custom communication protocols or to interface
with existing ones.

Higher-level libraries, like requests, simplify interactions with

web protocols such as HTTP, enabling developers to easily
send GET and POST requests, work with APIs, and scrape
websites. Similarly, the http.server module can be used to
create lightweight HTTP servers for local development and
testing.

Asynchronous programming, introduced in Python via

asyncio, revolutionizes how network applications handle
concurrency. It allows multiple network operations to be
performed simultaneously without blocking, making it ideal
for real-time systems like chat applications and online
gaming.

Python network programming extends beyond basic

communication to security, data serialization, and protocol
analysis. With its versatility and simplicity, Python is an
invaluable tool for network engineers and developers,
providing the capabilities to build, debug, and optimize
networked applications.

All the tables provided in the cheat sheets are also

presented in tables below which are easy to copy and paste.

The Python Network Programming Cheat Sheet

covers:

Required common installation modules: PIP and

IDLE
Top python network programming libraries
Network forensics: Required python libraries and
:
 scripts
Python Keywords
Data Types, Math operators
Network Analysis with Python
The dnspython library
Socket Module (Berkley API interface)
Socket Types, Creating Sockets
Socket Examples
Script Examples
Parsing Modules

View or Download the Cheat Sheet JPG

image

Right-click on the image below to save the JPG file (1987

width x 2362 height in pixels), or click here to open it in a
new browser tab. Once the image opens in a new window,
you may need to click on the image to zoom in and view the
full-sized jpeg.
:
 View or Download the cheat sheet PDF file

Download the cheat sheet PDF file here. When it opens in a

new browser tab, simply right click on the PDF and navigate
to the download menu.

What’s included in this cheat sheet

The following categories and items have been included in

the cheat sheet:

Required common installation modules: PIP and

IDLE

PIP (Python Package Installer) $ sudo apt-get

install python-pip
:
 IDLE (Integrated Development and $ sudo apt-get
Learning Environment) install idle

Top python network programming libraries

High-level Python Web framework for rapid

Django
development and pragmatic

pycos Python framework for asynchronous, concurrent,

(formerly network, distributed programming and distributed
asyncoro) computing

A clean API for writing network clients and servers.

Diesel TCP and UDP supported. Bundles clients for HTTP,
DNS, Redis, Riak and MongoDB.

Pulsar Easy way to build scalable network programs

Event-based framework for internet applications:

HTTP clients and servers, SSHv2 and Telnet, IRC,
Twisted
XMPP, IMAPv4, POP3, SMTP, IMAPv4, POP3, SMTP,
etc.

Network Automation and Programmability Abstraction

NAPALM Layer with Multivendor support - For dealing with dvice
vendors

A coroutine -based Python networking library that uses

gevent greenlet to provide a high-level synchronous API on
top of the libev or libuv event loop

Celery Asynchronous task queue/job queue based on

distributed message passing
:
 Network forensics: Required python libraries
and scripts

System and network monitoring, security, and

EDDIE Tool
performance analysis agent for python

Small packet capture tool based on python

pypcap
and pcap

Implementation of the SSHv2 protocol,

Paramiko
providing both client and server functionality

pip Package installer for python

The Python
Package Index Repository of software for the Python
(PyPI)

Python Keywords

>>> import keyword

>>> print(keyword.kwlist)

Python 2.7.15+ ['and', 'as', 'assert', 'break', 'class', 'continue', 'def',

'del', 'elif', 'else', 'except', 'exec', 'finally', 'for', 'from', 'global', 'if',
'import', 'in', 'is', 'lambda', 'not', 'or', 'pass', 'print', 'raise', 'return',
'try', 'while', 'with', 'yield']

Python 3.8.0 ['False', 'None', 'True', 'and', 'as', 'assert', 'async',

'await', 'break', 'class', 'continue', 'def', 'del', 'elif', 'else', 'except',
'finally', 'for', 'from', 'global', 'if', 'import', 'in', 'is', 'lambda', 'nonlocal',
:
 'not', 'or', 'pass', 'raise', 'return', 'try', 'while', 'with', 'yield']

Data Types

Text str - x = "Hello World"

Numeric int, float, complex

Sequence list, tuple, range

Mapping dict

Set set, frozenset

Boolean bool

Binary bytes, bytearray, memoryview

Math operators

** Exponent 4 ** 2 = 16

% Modulus/Remainder 43 % 5 = 3

// Integer division 11 // 5 = 2

/ Division 11 / 5 = 2.2
:
 * Multiplication 3 * 3 = 9

- Subtraction 8 - 3 = 5

+ Addition 2 + 2 = 4

== Equal to

!= Not equal to

< Less than

> Greater Than

<= Less than or Equal to

>= Greater than or Equal to

Comments

Can be used at the start of a line, or from within a line to the

#
end of the line

Network Analysis with Python

Use NMAP
with port $ pip install python-nmap
scanner
:
 Commands import nmap
to run NMAP
scan nmScan = nmap.PortScanner()

nmScan.scan('10.1.0.0', '25-443')

nmScan.scaninfo() # {'tcp':
{'services': ‘25-80’, 'method':
'connect'}}

nmScan.all_hosts()

nmScan['10.1.0.0'].hostname()
NMAP
commands nmScan['10.1.0.0'].state()
used with
python nmScan['10.1.0.0'].all_protocols()

nmScan['10.1.0.0']['tcp'].keys() #
Results -[80, 25, 22, 135]

nmScan['10.1.0.0'].has_tcp(25) #
Result True/False

nmScan['10.1.0.0'].has_tcp(21) #
Result False/True

The dnspython library

Installation
$ pip install dnspython

import dns.resolver

name = 'google.com'

for qtype in 'A', 'AAAA', 'MX',

Basic DNS 'NS', 'TXT', 'SOA':
query
answer =
dns.resolver.query(name,qtype,
raise_on_no_answer=False)

if answer.rrset is not None:

print(answer.rrset)
:
 import dns.resolver

Get MX
target and answers =
name dns.resolver.query('dnspython.org',
preference 'MX')

for rdata in answers:

print ('Host', rdata.exchange, 'has

preference', rdata.preference)

Socket Module (Berkley API interface)

Primary
socket() • ind() • listen() • accept() • connect() •
Functions an
connect_ex() • send() • recv() • close()
Methods

Socket Types

For TCP protocols • Reliable transmission •

SOCK_STREAM Packet sequence • Connection-oriented •
Bidirectional

For UDP protocols • Unreliable transmission •

SOCK_DGRAM No sequence of packets •
Connectionless(UDP) • Not Bidirectional

Creating Sockets

import socket # Imports the socket method

:
 socket.socket() # Function that creates socket

sock = socket. socket (socket family, socket type,

protocol=value)

Socket Family AF_UNIX or AF_INET

SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_DGRAM for

TCP & UDP respectively

• e.g. TCP - UDP2 = socket. socket

Socket Type (socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)

• e.g. UDP - TCP2 = socket. socket

(socket.AF_INET,
socket.SOCK_STREAM)

Client socket method connect()

Server socket method bind() • listen(backlog) •

accept()

s.recv() # Receive TCP

TCP socket methods packets

s.send() #Send TCP packets

:
 s.recvfrom() # Receives UDP
packets
UDP socket methods
s.sendto() # Transmits UDP
packets

More Socket Methods

close() Close the socket connection

Returns a string which includes the

gethostname() hostname of the current PC

Returns a string which includes the

gethostbyname() hostname and IP address of the current
PC

listen() Setup and start TCP listener

Attach (host-name, port number) to the

bind() socket

accept() TCP client connection wait

connect() Initiate TCP server connection

:
 TCP Socket Methods

Returns a tuple with the remote address

mysocket.accept() that has connected

mysocket.bind( address Attach the specified local address to the

) socket

mysocket.connect( Data sent through the socket assigns to

address ) the given remote address

Returns the remote address where the

mysocket.getpeername() socket is connected

Returns the address of the socket’s own

mysocket.getsockname() local endpoint

mysocket.sendto(data, Force a data packet to a specific remote

address) address

Socket Blocking

setblocking(1) Setup block

setblocking(0) Remove / un-setup block

:
 Get port number using domain import socket
name
socket.getservbyname('domain
name')

import socket
Check support for IPV6
socket.has_ipv6 # Answer is
TRUE or FALSE

from socket import

getaddrinfo

getaddrinfo() - Bind Server to a getaddrinfo(None, 'FTP', 0,

Port socket.SOCK_STREAM, 0,
socket.AI_PASSIVE)

[(2, 1, 6, '', ('0.0.0.0',

21)), (10, 1, 6, '', ('::',
21, 0, 0))]

Socket Examples

Client-side socket example

import socket

s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM)

host=socket.gethostname()

port=1111

myserver.bind((host,port)) # replace myserver and

myclient with repsctive IPs

myserver.listen(5)
:
 while True:

myclient,addr=myserver.accept()

print("Connected to {str(addr)}")

myclient.send(msg.encode("ascii"))

myclient.close()

Client-side Socket example with Comments

# import the socket library

import socket

# create a socket object

s = socket.socket()

print ("Socket created")

# reserve a port on the computer which can be

anything

port = 1111

# bind to the port

# empty string in the IP field instead of an IP

makes server listen to requests

# coming from other computers on the network

s.bind(('', port))

print ("socket binded to %s" %(port))

# make socket into listening mode

:
 s.listen(5)

print ("socket is listening")

# loop until user interrupt it or an error occurs

while True:

# Establish connection with client.

c, addr = s.accept()

print ('Got connection from', addr)

# send a thank you message to the client.

c.send('Thank you for connection')

# Close the connection

c.close()

Script Examples

Create list of devices

>>>devices = ['SW1', 'SW2', 'SW3']

Create VLAN dictionary list

:
 vlans = [{'id': '100', 'name': 'staff'},
{'id': '200', 'name': 'VOICE'},

{'id': '300', 'name': 'wireless'}]

Write functions to collect commands and push to the network

>>>def get_commands(vlan, name):

commands = []

commands.append('vlan ' + vlan)

commands.append('name ' + name)

return commands

>>> def push_commands(device, commands):

print('Connecting to device: ' + device)

for cmd in commands:

print('Sending command: ' + cmd)

Create VLANs in multiple switches using python script

>>>for vlan in vlans:

id = vlan.get('id')

name = vlan.get('name')

print('\n')

print('Configure VLAN:' + id)

commands = get_commands(id, name)

:
 for device in devices:

push_commands(device, commands)

print('\n')

Citation: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/network-
programmability-and/9781491931240/ch04.html

Disable router interface using python command

>>> from push import push_commands

device = 'router2'

commands = ['interface Eth0/1', 'shutdown']

push_commands(device, commands)

Parsing Modules

The argparse module makes it easy to write user-friendly

command-line interfaces. The program defines what arguments
argparse() it requires, and argparse will figure out how to parse those out of
sys.argv

>>> parser =
Creating a parser argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Process
some integers.')

>>> parser.add_argument('integers',
metavar='N', type=int, nargs='+',

... help='an integer for the accumulator')

>>> parser.add_argument('--sum',
Adding arguments
:
 dest='accumulate', action='store_const',

... const=sum, default=max,

... help='sum the integers (default: find

the max)')

>>> parser.parse_args(['--sum', '7', '-1',

Parsing '42'])
arguments
Namespace(accumulate=, integers=[7, -1, 42])

Python network programming FAQs

How Python can be used in networking?

Python is a flexible programming language and it can be

used to automate many business tasks. On networks, you
would use Python scripts to perform maintenance tasks,
collect and transform data, or to update settings. A useful
application for Python on networks is to ensure coordination
between different components in a system. For example, all
of the elements in a software-defined network can be aligned
through the use of Python scripts.

Is Python good for socket programming?

You can bind and release a socket with Python very easily.
There are a number of network traffic management services WHAT'S IN THIS
that you can construct with Python, such as resequencing ARTICLE?
packets or checking for abandoned connections.
View or Download the
Cheat Sheet JPG
Why is Python good for network image

View or Download the

:
 automation? cheat sheet PDF file

What’s included in this

cheat sheet
The short answer to why Python is good for network
Python network
programming is that Cisco System uses it for the on-board
programming FAQs
programs on its devices, so if they put in lots of research into
the relative benefits of programming languages for
networking, you could just take their word for it and save
yourself a lot of time. Pointing to the qualities that
recommend Python for network programming is that it is
extensible by libraries in the way that C is but it is much
easier to read than C and it doesn’t need to be compiled.
: