Input statement question

[ron]

Hi, I'm still new at Python and have been away from programming for a
number of years in general.  I apologized in advance if this has been
discussed extensively already.  


Is the input() function new?  There doesn't seem to be very many
examples of it's use.

After a lot of searching I did find both the input() and raw_input()
statement definitions.  I don't understand the reasoning behind making
input() equivalent to  "eval (raw_imput[prompt])"  the default
behavior, and "raw_input([prompt])" input standard strings? 

The fact that there needs to be a warning about the input() function
is indication to me that it may need to be changed. 

It seems to me, input() should get a standard string as the default
behavior.   And raw input should get strings + control characters
until the specified ending character is received.  

	variable = input_raw( ['terminate character'] [,'file'] )  

The new line character could be the default termination character, the
programmer could change it to something else.  And the file argument
would compliment the enhanced print '>>' operations.  The input should
always be a string.  Eval should be used separately on it if it is
desired.  With the above statement you may be able to input multiple
lines and evaluate them as a set.  Of course, maybe a syntax_check()
function would be worth while before using the eval() function. 

And a regular standard input function would could be...

	variable = input( ['prompt'] [,'format'] [,'file'] )  

Where prompt is a string,  format is a regular expression string
indicating valid input characters, and file is an alternate input
source. 

By surrounding the input() with int() or float(), the pre formatted
result can convert it to a numeric format with out errors.

I know there are probably libraries I can import to get these
capabilities.  I've just started to explore some of them.  This just
seems to be such a basic operations that I think it should be built
in.  Maybe it is and I haven't found it yet?