interactively reads in a character string.
InputString[prompt]
requests input, displaying prompt as a "prompt".
InputString[prompt,init]
in a notebook front end uses init as the initial contents of the input field.


InputString
interactively reads in a character string.
InputString[prompt]
requests input, displaying prompt as a "prompt".
InputString[prompt,init]
in a notebook front end uses init as the initial contents of the input field.
Details and Options

- InputString returns what it reads as a string, without evaluation.
- The operation of InputString may vary from one computer system to another. When a Wolfram System front end is used, InputString typically works through a dialog box.
- When no front end is used, InputString reads from standard input.
- If the standard input is a file, then InputString returns EndOfFile if you try to read past the end of the file.
- On systems with textual input, InputString[] uses ? as a prompt.
- When InputString is evaluated, the Wolfram System stops until the input has been read.
- With a notebook front end, InputString by default puts up a dialog window with a standard appearance.
- The prompt given can be text, graphics or any expression.
- InputString takes notebook options. The default settings include WindowFloating->False, WindowSize->All, and WindowTitle->None.
- InputString by default puts up a dialog in the middle of the main display screen. Explicit settings for WindowMargins override this.
- The options for InputField can be given directly as options to InputString to control the properties of the input field.
- InputString[prompt] is equivalent to InputString[prompt,""].
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Introduced in 1988 (1.0) | Updated in 2007 (6.0) ▪ 2014 (10.0)
Text
Wolfram Research (1988), InputString, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/InputString.html (updated 2014).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1988. "InputString." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2014. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/InputString.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1988). InputString. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/InputString.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_inputstring, author="Wolfram Research", title="{InputString}", year="2014", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/InputString.html}", note=[Accessed: 08-August-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_inputstring, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={InputString}, year={2014}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/InputString.html}, note=[Accessed: 08-August-2025]}