How to Get User Input in Python [With Examples]

This article covers getting user input on the command line using Python 2 or 3 and includes some useful examples.

Get User Input in Python 3

Python 3 uses the input() function to collect user input:

myText = input("Enter some text:")
print("You entered the text: " + myText)

Get User Input in Python 2

If you’re still using Python 2, you will use the raw_input() function instead:

myText = raw_input("Enter some text:")
print "You entered the text: ", myText # Python 2 uses different syntax to print output

Typing Input

All input collected using the above functions will create a string variable. If you are collecting numerical information, you can change the type using the int() and float() functions:

myText = input("Enter some text, it will be converted to a number variable:")
myInteger = int(myText) # Converts the input text to an integer
myFloat = float(myText) # Converts the input text to a float number

The above example assumes you are using Python 3.

Handling Bad Input

In the above example, where the text is converted to a number, Python will throw an error if the user hasn’t entered a valid number.

This can be handled using a try/catch block:

try:
    myText = input("Enter some text, it will be converted to a number variable:")
    myInteger = int(myText) # Converts the input text to an integer
    myFloat = float(myText) # Converts the input text to a float number
except ValueError:
    print("User has input in invalid number that could not be converted")

Handling bad user input is something you should always do – users are not predictable (or reliable), ever.