Is it possible to prefill a input() in Python 3's Command Line Interface?

Question

I'm using Python 3.2 on Ubuntu 11.10 (Linux). A piece of my new code looks like this:

text = input("TEXT=")

Is it possible to get some predefined string after the prompt, so I can adjust it if needed? It should be like this:

python3 file
TEXT=thepredefinedtextishere

Now I press Backspace 3 times

TEXT=thepredefinedtextish

Now I press Enter, and the variable text should be thepredefinedtextish

The short answer is no, but there's bound to be a curses or readline trick to do this. +1 for the question. — Fred Foo
– Fred Foo, Commented Dec 14, 2011 at 13:26
"Enter blargh (Default: 3)" doesn't do what you ask for, but solves the same problem. — Lennart Regebro
– Lennart Regebro, Commented Dec 14, 2011 at 13:31
@LennartRegebro: This doesn't serve exactly the same purpose. Imagine the user is supposed to enter a list of search paths, with some defaults predefined. The user will probably want to supplement the predefined list rather than replacing it. — Sven Marnach
– Sven Marnach, Commented Dec 14, 2011 at 13:40
Duplicate of Show default value for editing on Python input possible? — gecco
– gecco, Commented Dec 14, 2011 at 13:55

andyhasit · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-02 20:57:12Z

41

If your Python interpreter is linked against GNU readline, input() will use it. In this case, the following should work:

import readline

def input_with_prefill(prompt, text):
    def hook():
        readline.insert_text(text)
        readline.redisplay()
    readline.set_pre_input_hook(hook)
    result = input(prompt)
    readline.set_pre_input_hook()
    return result

edited Jun 2, 2019 at 20:57

andyhasit

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answered Dec 14, 2011 at 13:36

Sven Marnach

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4 Comments

Edward Falk Over a year ago

Doesn't work on Mac OS X by default. Also, I had to change input() to raw_input() or it would throw "NameError: name 'what I typed' is not defined".

Sven Marnach Over a year ago

@EdwardFalk This has nothing to do with Mac OS X. You are using Python 2, while this question is about Python 3.

Edward Falk Over a year ago

Ahh, missed that part.

robmsmt Over a year ago

note this doesn't work on python3.6 inside a Jupiter notebook, or in Pycharm console

Yann · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-14 14:27:04Z

-1

I think you're looking for something more smooth but an easy way to do it :

inputstring = input("Input your text here ('test' if ignored): ")
if inputstring == '' : inputstring = 'test'

answered Mar 14, 2024 at 14:27

Yann

1

1 Comment

loco.loop May 1 at 14:47

Not really what was asked as with this response the user would still have to input everything, the question is asking for a way to use a pre set response and work with that.

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