🎤 The input() command
input() pauses your program and waits for the user to type something and press Enter. Whatever they type is handed back as a string, which you usually save in a variable.
name = input("What is your name? ")
print(f"Nice to meet you, {name}!")
The text inside input("...") is the prompt — the question shown to the user.
🖥️ In this playground
When your code reaches input(), a small pop-up box appears. Type your answer there and press OK. Try it in the Practice tab!
⚠️ input() always gives you text
Numbers from input are strings!
Even if the user types 7, input() returns the string "7". To do math, you must convert it with int() or float().
age = input("How old are you? ")
age = int(age) # convert text to a number
print(f"Next year you'll be {age + 1}")
You can even do it in one line:
age = int(input("How old are you? "))
🧪 A complete mini-program
name = input("Your name? ")
fav = input("Favorite food? ")
print(f"{name} loves {fav}! Yum 😋")
✅ What you learned
input("prompt") waits for the user to type something.- It always returns a string.
- Wrap it in
int() or float() to get a number.
🎮 Time to Practice!
When you press ▶ Run, a pop-up will ask you to type. These tasks are interactive — just press ▶ Run and play!
👋
Task 1: Friendly Greeter
Easy
Ask the user their name, then greet them by name. Press ▶ Run and type your name in the pop-up.
🎂
Task 2: Age Next Year
Medium
Ask the user their age, convert it to a number, and tell them how old they'll be next year. Remember: convert with int() before adding 1!
age = int(input("How old are you? "))
print(f"Next year you will be {age + 1}!")
➕
Task 3: Two-Number Adder
Tricky
Ask for two numbers and print their sum. Be careful — convert both inputs to numbers, or Python will glue the text together instead of adding!
a = int(input("First number: "))
b = int(input("Second number: "))
print(f"The sum is {a + b}")
📖
Task 4: Free Play — Mad Libs!
Creative
Build a silly story! Ask for an animal, a color, and an action, then drop them into a funny sentence. Run it and laugh. 😄