Python User Input

Python allows for user input. That means we are able to ask the user for input. The following example asks for your name, and when you enter a name, it gets printed on the screen:

In the example above, the user had to input their name on a new line. The Python input() function has a prompt parameter, which acts as a message you can put in front of the user input, on the same line:

Add a message in front of the user input:

You can add as many inputs as you want, Python will stop executing at each of them, waiting for user input:

The input from the user is treated as a string. Even if, in the example above, you can input a number, the Python interpreter will still treat it as a string. You can convert the input into a number with the float() function:

To find the square root, the input has to be converted into a number:

#find the square root of the number:

It is a good practice to validate any input from the user. In the example above, an error will occur if the user inputs something other than a number. To avoid getting an error, we can test the input, and if it is not a number, the user could get a message like "Wrong input, please try again", and allowed to make a new input:

Keep asking until you get a number:

try: