The input() Function — Features and In-Depth Exploration

What Is the input() Function?

In my previous content I introduced Python functions and covered useful ones like type() and print(). Now we will look at the input() function, which lets us receive data (input) from users.

Using the type function to check which class the input object (remember, everything in Python is an object) belongs to:

>>> type(input)
<class 'builtin_function_or_method'>

We see that it belongs to the builtin_function_or_method class.

Let’s also check which class the other objects we’ve seen so far belong to:

>>> type(type) # the type() function is a type
<class 'type'>
>>> type(str) # str is also a type — which means int, dict, and list are types too
<class 'type'>
>>> type(print) # print is also a builtin_function_or_method
<class 'builtin_function_or_method'>

builtin_function_or_method = A built-in function or method.

Let these serve as a reminder; let’s continue.

input()

• input() is a built-in function or method.
• input() is an object.
• input() lets us receive data from the user.
• Every value we receive via input() comes in string format.

Other Features of the input Object

We can use the dir function to view the other features of an object (its functions, methods, variables, etc.):

>>> dir(input)
['__call__', '__class__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__module__', '__name__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__qualname__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__self__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', '__text_signature__']
>>>

Let’s take a closer look at input.__call__:

>>> type(input.__call__)
<class 'method-wrapper'>

Our object is classified as a method-wrapper.

>>> input.__call__.__doc__
'Call self as a function.'

A note has been left on the function saying “Call self as a function.” We can view notes written on functions using the __doc__ method.

>>> input.__call__()
I'm typing this text to test it
'I'm typing this text to test it'

I called the call function and it behaved just like calling input(). Wait a moment — maybe when we write input() to call it, the method that actually gets invoked is the call method.

Using the input() Function

As you can see below, input takes a single parameter (as I mentioned in the introduction to functions lesson) and displays that parameter to the user in the console. This is typically used to tell the user what they should type — for example, we left a note saying “Please enter your password”:

Note: The data type of the parameter input takes does not need to be a string — it can be int, list, or dict.

password = input("Please enter your password >>> ") # I received data from input and assigned it to the variable named password
print("Your password is", password) # then I used print to display the data assigned to my password variable on screen