code: def _get_stats(self, task, start_date):
          
  
          stats = []
          stats_dir = self._sdir(task.base_dir)
          date = start_date
          end_date = datetime.date.today()
          delta = datetime.timedelta(days=1)
  
          while date <= end_date:
              date_str = date.strftime('%Y%m%d')
              filename = os.path.join(stats_dir, '{0}.json'.format(date_str))
  
              if os.path.exists(filename):
                  try:
                      # fetch stats content
                      with open(filename, 'r') as file_:
                          data = json.loads(file_.read())
  
                      # sort descending by time
                      stats.append((date, sorted(data.iteritems(),
                                                 key=lambda x: x[1],
                                                 reverse=True)))
  
                  except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
                      pass
  
              date += delta  # next day
  
          return stats
docs: Fetches statistic information for given task and start range.