how can i add a new line using x.write(input()) in python

Question

     with open('practice.txt','w') as x:
          text = input('enter text')
          x.write(text)

enter text .. hello\n world

output .. hello\n world

it takes it as a string not as a newline character why is my input string when passed to a write() not validating my'\n' character

Does it have something to do with me passing input() to write()

\n is only used to represent a newline. Those two characters don't have any special meaning here because input() doesn't parse escape sequences. You'll have to figure out a way to do that yourself (e.g. text = text.replace('\\n', '\n')). — Blender
– Blender, Commented May 3, 2018 at 3:41

Primusa · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-03 03:32:18Z

1

input() returns a raw string so all newlines are automatically escaped. You can convert this back into a literal string with literal_eval() from ast.

from ast import literal_eval
with open('practice.txt','w') as x:
      text = input('enter text')
      x.write(literal_eval("'" + text + "'"))

For example:

from ast import literal_eval
a = input()
>>>"\tHello!"
print(a)
>>>\tHello!
print(literal_eval("'" + a + "'"))
>>>    Hello!

answered May 3, 2018 at 3:32

Primusa

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4 Comments

Blender Over a year ago

This will break if you use a single quote anywhere in the text, though. You could use triple quotes ("'''" + a + "'''"), but that also breaks for some inputs.

Primusa Over a year ago

You're right. I can't think of a way to convert it without breaking for at least one type of character. Is there actually no perfect way to convert from raw to literal?

Blender Over a year ago

For some reason there isn't a nice way to do this: stackoverflow.com/questions/4020539/…

Primusa Over a year ago

Okay that's a definite improvement. It still can't decode if there is a '\' at the end though

Jordan Mann · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-03 03:35:17Z

0

Another solution would be to use a multiline input from the user, so that you wouldn't need to type the control character.

See here: How to get multiline input from user

answered May 3, 2018 at 3:35

Jordan Mann

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