We’re going to build a Command Line Interface (CLI) tool that can convert any amount of money between two currencies using live rates. This project will be a Python-based currency converter application.
We will use the free Frankfurter API (https://api.frankfurter.app). Our Python tool will leverage this API for accurate currency conversion.
Step 1: The API Function
Let’s write a function that gets the current rate between two currencies using our Python currency converter.
import requests
def get_rate(from_currency, to_currency):
url = f"https://api.frankfurter.app/latest?from={from_currency}&to={to_currency}"
response = requests.get(url)
data = response.json()
# The API returns something like: {'rates': {'EUR': 0.95}}
rate = data['rates'][to_currency]
return rateStep 2: The Main Logic
Now we need to ask the user for input and use our function to perform the currency conversion in our Python tool.
def main():
print("=== Python Currency Converter ===")
amount = float(input("Enter amount: "))
from_curr = input("From Currency (e.g., USD): ").upper()
to_curr = input("To Currency (e.g., EUR): ").upper()
try:
rate = get_rate(from_curr, to_curr)
converted_amount = amount * rate
print(f"\n{amount} {from_curr} is equal to:")
print(f"{converted_amount:.2f} {to_curr}")
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error: Could not find rate. Make sure currency codes are correct. ({e})")
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()Run it and try converting 100 USD to EUR using the converter!
