Python: Unexpected EOF while parsing

Question

I'm working on a script for making a text-based game, and no-one I ask can find the issue, so I decided to ask here. When it gets to pressing enter, it comes up with an EOF error.

The code is as follows:

import time

print("Welcome to PyGame, a text-based adventure game run entirely via Python version 3.6.8.\n")
start=str(input("Press ENTER to begin."))
if start=="":
    print("Loading...")
    time.sleep(3)
else:
    quit()

The error, specifically, is:

Welcome to PyGame, a text-based adventure game run entirely via Python version 3.6.8.

Press ENTER to begin.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "E:\Random\PyGame.py", line 4, in <module>
    start=str(input("Press ENTER to begin."))
  File "<string>", line 0
    
   ^
SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing

There's nothing wrong with this piece of code, is runs as expected. The error is in something you didn't show us... — Thierry Lathuille, Dec 10 '20 at 12:02
The problem is that you are actually running Python 2, not 3 as you think. In Python 2, `input` tries to `eval` the string entered by the user, and it fails here as the string is empty. Check your configuration and make sure to run your scripts with Python 3. — Thierry Lathuille, Dec 10 '20 at 12:15
Does this answer your question? [Why does input() give a SyntaxError when I just press enter?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5025920/why-does-input-give-a-syntaxerror-when-i-just-press-enter) — wovano, Sep 29 '21 at 05:27

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 19 '20 at 02:33

-1

In Python 2.x input() is not automatically evaluated as a str type. So when Enter is pressed it interprets the input as EOF - End Of File when parsed, as nothing is read.

In Python 3.x the input() function parses an empty line as a str type.

You can try running the game in Python 3.x instead.

If you cannot use Python 3.x, try using a try, except block to catch and ignore this exception

try:
    start=str(input("Press ENTER to begin."))
except Exception as e:
    start = ""

answered Dec 19 '20 at 02:33

Anthony Inthavong

344
1
8

Catching `Exception` is a horrible solution. If you cannot use Python 3, use `raw_input()` instead of `input()`, since that is the correct function. Using `input()` in Python 2 for this use case is just plain wrong. – wovano Sep 29 '21 at 05:21

Python: Unexpected EOF while parsing

1 Answers1