sys.stdin.readline() results in extra space send to stdout

[Benjamin Rutt]

There has been a problem that has been bugging me for a while for
reading input from standard in. Consider the following simple program:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
print 'enter something: ',
answer = sys.stdin.readl ine().strip()
print 'you answered {%s}' % (answer)

When I run this interactively, the following happens:

$ ~/tmp/foo.py
enter something: hi
you answered {hi}

Notice the extra space before 'you'; I did not put it there. It seems
that this problem can be avoided if I instead use the program:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import code
answer = code.Interactiv eConsole().raw_ input('enter something: ')
print 'you answered {%s}' % (answer)

Now, the output is:

$ ~/tmp/foo.py
enter something: hi
you answered {hi}

Is this a well-known problem? Is it a bug? I do not see why that
extra space is getting there in the first version. Using the code
module seems a little dirty, when sys.stdin is available. This is
python 2.4 on a Linux platform. Thank you,
--
Benjamin Rutt

[Steve Holden]

Re: sys.stdin.readl ine() results in extra space send to stdout

Benjamin Rutt wrote:[color=blue]
> There has been a problem that has been bugging me for a while for
> reading input from standard in. Consider the following simple program:
>
> #!/usr/bin/env python
> import sys
> print 'enter something: ',
> answer = sys.stdin.readl ine().strip()
> print 'you answered {%s}' % (answer)
>
> When I run this interactively, the following happens:
>
> $ ~/tmp/foo.py
> enter something: hi
> you answered {hi}
>
> Notice the extra space before 'you'; I did not put it there. It seems
> that this problem can be avoided if I instead use the program:
>
> #!/usr/bin/env python
> import code
> answer = code.Interactiv eConsole().raw_ input('enter something: ')
> print 'you answered {%s}' % (answer)
>
> Now, the output is:
>
> $ ~/tmp/foo.py
> enter something: hi
> you answered {hi}
>
> Is this a well-known problem? Is it a bug? I do not see why that
> extra space is getting there in the first version. Using the code
> module seems a little dirty, when sys.stdin is available. This is
> python 2.4 on a Linux platform. Thank you,[/color]

It's related to the mechanism for printing. Since the last print
statement executed had a trailing comma, the next one starts its output
with a sapce. The interpreter doesn't realise that the "carriage" has
been "returned" by the input.

raw_input() is the bext way to go.

regards
Steve
--
Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC/Ltd www.holdenweb.com
Love me, love my blog holdenweb.blogs pot.com