What does Python's eval() do?

Question

In the book that I am reading on Python, it keeps using the code eval(input(\'blah\'))

I read the documentation, and I understand it, but I still do no

Answer 1

I'm late to answer this question but, no one seems to give clear answer to the question.

If an user enters a numeric value, input() will return a string.

>>> input('Enter a number: ')
Enter a number: 3
>>> '3'
>>> input('Enter a number: ')
Enter a number: 1+1
'1+1'

So, eval() will evaluate returned value (or expression) which is a string and return integer/float.

>>> eval(input('Enter a number: '))
Enter a number: 1+1
2
>>> 
>>> eval(input('Enter a number: '))
Enter a number: 3.14
3.14

Of cource this is a bad practice. int() or float() should be used instead of eval() in this case.

>>> float(input('Enter a number: '))
Enter a number: 3.14
3.14