The difference is that raw_input() does not exist in Python 3.x, while input() does. Actually, the old raw_input() has been renamed to input(), and the old input() is gone, but can easily be simulated by using eval(input()). (Remember that eval() is evil. Try to use safer ways of parsing your input if possible.)

In Python 2, raw_input() returns a string, and input() tries to run the input as a Python expression.

Since getting a string was almost always what you wanted, Python 3 does that with input(). As Sven says, if you ever want the old behaviour, eval(input()) works.

Python 2:

• raw_input() takes exactly what the user typed and passes it back as a string.

• input() first takes the raw_input() and then performs an eval() on it as well.

The main difference is that input() expects a syntactically correct python statement where raw_input() does not.

Python 3:

• raw_input() was renamed to input() so now input() returns the exact string.
• Old input() was removed.

If you want to use the old input(), meaning you need to evaluate a user input as a python statement, you have to do it manually by using eval(input()).