Backwards-compatible input calls in Python

Question

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for writing a backwards-compatible input() call for retrieving a filepath?

In Python 2.x, raw_input worked fine for input l

Answer 1

This code is taught in many Python education and training programs now.

Usually taught together:

from __future__ import print_function
if hasattr(__builtins__, 'raw_input'):
    input = raw_input

First line: imports the Python 3.x print() function into Python 2.7 so print() behaves the same under both versions of Python. If this breaks your code due to older print "some content" calls, you can leave this line off.

Second and third lines: sets Python 2.7 raw_input() to input() so input() can be used under both versions of Python without problems. This can be used all by itself if this is the only compatibility fix you wish to include in your code.

There are more from __future__ imports available on the Python.org site for other language compatibility issues. There is also a library called "six" that can be looked up for compatibility solutions when dealing with other issues.