Python input() Function

The input() function in Python is used when we need to receive data from user at run-time of the program. For example:

print("Enter anything: ", end="")
val = input()
print("\nYou've entered:", val)

The snapshot given below shows the sample run of above program with user input Python programming

The above program can also be created in this way:

val = input("Enter anything: ")
print("\nYou've entered:", val)

You'll still get the same output as of previous program.

Note: The input() function is one of the most used function in Python. As every time when we require user input in our Python application, the input() function comes into picture.

Python input() Function Syntax

The syntax of input() function in Python, is:

input(prompt)

The prompt parameter is optional. The default value of this parameter is None. If you're professional, then you can use this parameter to print the message on the output directly using input(), instead of using print(), an extra statement for the program.

The input() Function - Is used to read a string from standard input. The trailing newline is stripped

The prompt Parameter - The prompt string will get printed on standard output without a trailing newline before reading the input.

Python input() Function Example

Here is an example of input() function in Python. Because the input() function treats every entered value as of String type, therefore:

val = input("Enter whatever you want: ")
print("\nThe type:", type(val))

produces following output with user input 132 (an integer value):

Note: To understand about receiving integer, floating, string etc. inputs, refer to Python Code to Get Input from User.

Following is the last program of this article, uses input() function to receive user input at run-time of the program.

print("1. Receive Integer Input")
print("2. Receive Floating-point Input")
print("4. Receive String Input")
print("\nEnter Your Choice (1-3): ", end="")
choice = int(input())

if choice == 1:
    print("\nEnter an integer value: ", end="")
    val = int(input())
    print("You've entered:", val)
    print("Type:", type(val))
    
elif choice == 2:
    print("\nEnter a floating-point value: ", end="")
    val = float(input())
    print("You've entered:", val)
    print("Type:", type(val))
    
elif choice == 3:
    print("\nEnter a string input: ", end="")
    val = input()
    print("You've entered:", val)
    print("Type:", type(val))
    
else:
    print("\nInvalid choice!")

The sample run with user input 2 as choice, 12.42 as floating-point value is shown in the snapshot given below:

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