How to handle both integer and string from raw_input?

Question

Still trying to understand python. It is so different than php.

I set the choice to integer, the problem is on my menu I need to use letters as well.

How c

Answer 1

I'm not entirely clear what you're asking here. raw_input() always returns a str type. If you want to convert user input automatically to an int or other (simple) type you can use the input() function, which does this.

You have chosen to let the user enter either a letter or a number, you could equally assign the "letter" options to number in the menu. Or, you could take more advantage of the try/except, e.g.:

try:
    choice = int(user_input)
    if choice == 1:
        # do something
    elif ...
except ValueError: # type(user_input) != int
    if choice == 'X' or choice == 'x':
        # do something
    elif ...
    else:
        print 'no idea what you want' # or print menu again