Issues with input() and raw_input() for Python 2.7. User entered data is not read properly. What is going on?

Question

So at my company they are making me use python 2.7 because of the product for a compatibility reason that I won't get into here.

So I am writing a program that connects to a device using SSH (a switch specifically) and I am able to actually access the device using SSH and this device is ping-able on my machine. The problem ? raw_input seems to not be taking it as a string. When I try input(), it gives me an invalid syntax error.

For the scripts I write, I usually use arparse and the user enters the IP address, username, and password through the terminal, but I want this script to not use argparse and to use input() or raw_input. All my SSH scripts work good except for this one, the only one using raw_input and input() instead of argparse

def runMain():

    scriptName = os.path.basename(__file__)

    print("The name of this script is: " + scriptName)

    print("**************************************\n")

    print("This script allows you to enable and disable ports on the SNET or SOOBM switches, have fun ! \n")

    print("**************************************\n")

    optionPrinter_switches_top()

    user_input = raw_input("Make your selection") # This does not work if I change to input(), it exits out of the program

    if user_input == 1:
        print("You selected the SNET switch, lets proceed !")

        deviceIP = input("Enter the IP address for this device")  # I tried changing these to raw_input, I get a syntax issue
        deviceUsername = input("Enter the username for this device")
        devicePassword = input("Enter the password for this device")

        confirm_ping = canPing(deviceIP) # This is a boolean function that works correctly in every script but this one.

        if confirm_ping:
            ssh_SNET = connectToSSH_SNET(deviceIP, deviceUsername, devicePassword)
        else:
           print("Sorry, that device is not even ping-able. Figure that issue out and retry the program...")
           sys.exit(-1)

        while True:
            SNET_options()

            user_choice_SNET = input("Please select an option")

            switch_result = SNET_switch_func(user_choice_SNET)

            if switch_result == "displayInterfaceBrief":
                time.sleep(5)
                displayInterfaceBrief_SNET(ssh_SNET)
            elif switch_result == "enablePort":
                time.sleep(5)
                enablePort_SNET(ssh_SNET)
            elif switch_result == "disablePort":
                disablePort_SNET(ssh_SNET)
            elif switch_result == "switchReboot":
                reboot_SNET_switch(ssh_SNET)
            else:
                print("Exiting program now....")
                sys.exit(-1)

Here are relevant issues:

user_input = raw_input("Make your selection") # This does not work if I change to input(), it exits out of the program

 deviceIP = input("Enter the IP address for this device")  # I tried changing these to raw_input, I get a syntax issue
 deviceUsername = input("Enter the username for this device")
 devicePassword = input("Enter the password for this device")

confirm_ping = canPing(deviceIP) # This is a boolean function that works correctly in every script but this one.

Conclusion ? There is an issue with input()/raw_input() . What is going on here and how can I fix this ? I can't use python 3.7 and it really is frustrating. Thanks for the help

Answer 1

Try changing if user_input == 1: to if int(user_input) == 1: as the input function takes an input in string format, by default.

And, if you want to use input() instead of raw_input() to take input from users in python 2.x, then you can try below code:

if hasattr(__builtins__, 'raw_input'):
    input=raw_input

user_input = input("Enter a number: ")