Input statement question

From: ron (radam2_at_tampabay.rr.com)
Date: 10/24/03 

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 20:34:18 GMT

Hi, I'm still new at Python and have been away from programming for a
number of years in general. I apologized in advance if this has been
discussed extensively already.

Is the input() function new? There doesn't seem to be very many
examples of it's use.

After a lot of searching I did find both the input() and raw_input()
statement definitions. I don't understand the reasoning behind making
input() equivalent to "eval (raw_imput[prompt])" the default
behavior, and "raw_input([prompt])" input standard strings?

The fact that there needs to be a warning about the input() function
is indication to me that it may need to be changed.

It seems to me, input() should get a standard string as the default
behavior. And raw input should get strings + control characters
until the specified ending character is received.

        variable = input_raw( ['terminate character'] [,'file'] )

The new line character could be the default termination character, the
programmer could change it to something else. And the file argument
would compliment the enhanced print '>>' operations. The input should
always be a string. Eval should be used separately on it if it is
desired. With the above statement you may be able to input multiple
lines and evaluate them as a set. Of course, maybe a syntax_check()
function would be worth while before using the eval() function.

And a regular standard input function would could be...

        variable = input( ['prompt'] [,'format'] [,'file'] )

Where prompt is a string, format is a regular expression string
indicating valid input characters, and file is an alternate input
source.

By surrounding the input() with int() or float(), the pre formatted
result can convert it to a numeric format with out errors.

I know there are probably libraries I can import to get these
capabilities. I've just started to explore some of them. This just
seems to be such a basic operations that I think it should be built
in. Maybe it is and I haven't found it yet?

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