Python Input and Output

What Are Input And Output?

Input is information a program receives. Output is information a program shows. In beginner Python programs, input usually comes from the keyboard with input(), and output usually appears on the screen with print().

name = input("Enter your name: ")
print("Hello", name)

The prompt asks the user for a name. The program stores the typed text in name, then prints a greeting.

Printing Output

The print() function displays values.

print("Welcome to Python")
print(25)
print("Score:", 90)

When you pass multiple values to print(), Python adds spaces between them by default.

first = "Asha"
last = "Rao"
print(first, last)

Output:

Asha Rao

You can also use an f-string to build clear output.

score = 18
total = 20
print(f"Score: {score}/{total}")

Using input()

The input() function waits for the user to type something and press Enter.

city = input("City: ")
print(f"You live in {city}")

The text inside input() is the prompt. It should be short and clear so the user knows what to enter.

Input Is Always Text

This is one of the most important beginner rules: input() returns a string, even if the user types a number.

age = input("Age: ")
print(type(age))

If the user types 16, the value is still "16" as text.

To do math, convert the input first:

age = int(input("Age: "))
next_year = age + 1
print(f"Next year you will be {next_year}")

Use float() when decimal values are allowed.

price = float(input("Price: "))

Controlling Print Separators

The sep argument changes what appears between printed values.

print("2026", "05", "19", sep="-")

Output:

2026-05-19

The end argument changes what appears after the print call.

print("Loading", end="...")
print("done")

Output:

Loading...done

Common Mistakes

A common mistake is trying to do math with raw input.

number = input("Number: ")
print(number + 5)

This raises a TypeError because number is text. Use int() or float() first.

Another mistake is forgetting quotes around prompt text.

name = input(Enter name: )

Prompt text must be a string:

name = input("Enter name: ")

Quick Summary

• Use print() to show output.
• Use input() to read typed input.
• input() always returns a string.
• Convert input with int() or float() before doing math.
• F-strings are a clean way to include values in output.
• sep and end can customize how print() displays text.

Practice Quiz

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