How to input to a function without "

Question

Function definition is here

def printme(str):
   """This prints a string passed into this function"""
   print str

You can run it like below

printme("I'm first call to user defined function!")

I want to do that instead

printme(I can do it with this the double quote)

What should I amend in my function to be able to do this? I tried this but it did not work out

def printme(raw_input()):
    """This prints a string passed into this function"""

I got this error

File "<ipython-input-31-e1326fb445e6>", line 1
  def printme(raw_input()):
                     ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Pretty sure this is not possible (if I understand your question). — Ismail Badawi, Feb 20 '16 at 18:18
With the quotes it is a string, without it's just garbage code. Without deep changes to the interpreter, you're SOL. — jonrsharpe, Feb 20 '16 at 18:20
Part of my learning curve. Call it probably stubbornness but I like to hear it than not ask the question (and if the question is bad, I would have deleted it ) ;) @PadraicCunningham — Andy K, Feb 20 '16 at 18:25
Possible duplicate of [Bare words / new keywords in Python](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29492895/bare-words-new-keywords-in-python) — TML, Feb 20 '16 at 18:30
@AndyK `printme(I can do it with this the double quote)` is a duplicate of the "Bare words" question; based on the discussion below, it sounds like your question actually had nothing to avoiding the quotes, but was really more about `raw_input()`. Glad you got an answer :) — TML, Feb 20 '16 at 18:49

Amit Gold · Answer 1 · 2016-02-20T18:29:13.240

3

You cannot do that in Python, since that won't be a value, but just a couple of undefined variables.

edited Feb 20 '16 at 18:29

answered Feb 20 '16 at 18:21

Amit Gold

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Part of my learning curve. Call it probably stubbornness but I like to hear it than not ask the question (and if the question is bad, I would have deleted it ) ;) @amitgold – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:23
in 7 minutes. Thanks mate – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:24
3

@AmitGold that lacks a certain class, frankly – jonrsharpe Feb 20 '16 at 18:25
@jonrsharpe he earns it. I would have done it differently but he is entitled to do so ;) – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:26
1

This answer would be better without the "why would you want to do it anyways?" comment. If you need clarification, make that a comment to the question. Otherwise it invites a discussion in the comments of this answer. – Bryan Oakley Feb 20 '16 at 18:28
@BryanOakley Agreed. Will remove it. :D – Amit Gold Feb 20 '16 at 18:29

rkatkam · Answer 2 · 2016-02-20T18:32:47.313

2

You may try like this:

str_val = "I'm first call to user defined function!"
printme(str_val)

You will get the desired output.

Using raw_input(), same way, assign it to a variable as:

another_str_val = raw_input()
printme(another_str_val)

Specifically within the function:

    def printme()
        str_val = raw_input()
        print str_val

    printme()

Hope this solves your issue.

P.S: Strings are always enclosed in quotes. FYI here

edited Feb 20 '16 at 18:32

answered Feb 20 '16 at 18:28

rkatkam

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Hi @rkatkam I want specificly within a function – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:30
The third approach here is nice. – David Zemens Feb 20 '16 at 18:34
Hi @rkatkam I like your solution very much. Many thanks for being humble enough to have written an answer. Kudos. – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:39

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 20 '16 at 18:29

1

You could arguably do:

s = raw_input 

def printme(something):
    """ prints a string... """
    print something

And then call on your function like:

printme(s())

Although not sure that really gets what you want (which is not possible to do), although this does prompt you for input each time you call the function in that manner.

answered Feb 20 '16 at 18:29

David Zemens

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Hi @david-zemens, many thanks for the workaround. This is one of the reason why I hate asking questions on Python here. The guys are knowledgeable but are conceited with their knowledge. It feels like a witch hunt , each time I'm asking a basic question. Humility, where are thou? – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:38
@AmitGold a definite no or a workaround. Both would have been good. David's answer fits me but I like your answer as well. +1 for you. – Andy K Feb 20 '16 at 18:41
1

@AndyK The answer isn't what you described. You described trying to use a string without quotes, and the answer is about asking the user (once the program is run) for the string. Two different things. (Only continuing this discussion because you may have misunderstood the answer) – Amit Gold Feb 20 '16 at 18:43
1

@AmitGold sometimes, [the question is not the question](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem), and especially when the strictly *correct* answer is "This is not possible", *workaround* solutions may be preferable. It's up to the OP to decide which of several answers best suits his or her specific needs. – David Zemens Feb 20 '16 at 18:48
@DavidZemens in this case the answer isn't exactly an answer either. The answer doesn't do what the question was about. The question was about using a string inside the code without quotes, while the answer includes the user typing the string after the program starts running. – Amit Gold Feb 20 '16 at 18:50
@DavidZemens this is the story of my life. I need to read carefully about the article you posted – Andy K Feb 21 '16 at 10:23

How to input to a function without "

3 Answers3