I am writing a program that accepts user input.
#note: Python 2.7 users should use `raw_input`, the equivalent of 3.X's `input`
age = int(input("Please enter your age: "))
if age >= 18:
print("You are able to vote in the United States!")
else:
print("You are not able to vote in the United States.")
The program works as expected as long as the the user enters meaningful data.
Please enter your age: 23
You are able to vote in the United States!
But it fails if the user enters invalid data:
Please enter your age: dickety six
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "canyouvote.py", line 1, in <module>
age = int(input("Please enter your age: "))
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'dickety six'
Instead of crashing, I would like the program to ask for the input again. Like this:
Please enter your age: dickety six
Sorry, I didn't understand that.
Please enter your age: 26
You are able to vote in the United States!
How do I ask for valid input instead of crashing or accepting invalid values (e.g. -1)?
22 Answers
The simplest way to accomplish this is to put the input method in a while loop. Use continue when you get bad input, and break out of the loop when you're satisfied.
When Your Input Might Raise an Exception
Use try and except to detect when the user enters data that can't be parsed.
while True:
try:
# Note: Python 2.x users should use raw_input, the equivalent of 3.x's input
age = int(input("Please enter your age: "))
except ValueError:
print("Sorry, I didn't understand that.")
#better try again... Return to the start of the loop
continue
else:
#age was successfully parsed!
#we're ready to exit the loop.
break
if age >= 18:
print("You are able to vote in the United States!")
else:
print("You are not able to vote in the United States.")
