How To Take User Input And Store It In A Variable Using Python Tkinter?

In this tutorial, I will explain how to take user input and store it in a variable using Python Tkinter. Recently someone asked me how to collect user details like name, address, and email in a Tkinter application and save them to a database. I will share the solution I found during research and provide a step-by-step guide with examples.

Table of Contents

Take User Input and Store It in a Variable Using Python Tkinter

Let us learn how to take user input and store it in a variable using Python Tkinter.

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1. Create the Tkinter GUI

The first step is to create a basic Tkinter window and set up the graphical interface.

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import messagebox
import sqlite3
import re

# Create the main application window
window = tk.Tk()
window.title("User Input Example")
window.geometry("400x300")

tk.Tk() initializes the main window. .title("User Input Example") sets the window title. .geometry("400x300") defines the window size.

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2. Retrieve User Input

We need input fields (Entry widgets) to allow users to enter data.

tk.Label(window, text="Enter your name:").pack()
entry_name = tk.Entry(window)
entry_name.pack()

tk.Label(window, text="Enter your address:").pack()
entry_address = tk.Entry(window)
entry_address.pack()

tk.Label(window, text="Enter your email:").pack()
entry_email = tk.Entry(window)
entry_email.pack()

tk.Label() creates a label (text above each input field). tk.Entry() creates an input field for the user. .pack() is used to arrange the elements in the window.

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3. Handle Multiple Input Fields

Since we are collecting multiple details (Name, Address, Email), we must retrieve them all when the user submits the form.

def save_input():
    name = entry_name.get()
    address = entry_address.get()
    email = entry_email.get()

    if not name or not address or not email:
        messagebox.showerror("Error", "All fields are required!")
        return

.get() method retrieves text from input fields. Validation checks: If any field is empty, it shows an error message. messagebox.showerror() displays a pop-up error.

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4. Validate User Input

Before saving data, we need to ensure the email is valid.

def is_valid_email(email):
    pattern = r'^[\w\.-]+@[\w\.-]+\.\w+$'
    return re.match(pattern, email) is not None

if not is_valid_email(email):
    messagebox.showerror("Error", "Invalid email address!")
    return

Uses regular expressions (regex) to check if the email format is correct. If the email is invalid, it shows an error message and stops execution.

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5. Save User Input to a Database

If all validations pass, the user data is stored in a SQLite database.

def create_database():
    conn = sqlite3.connect('users.db')
    c = conn.cursor()
    c.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
                id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
                name TEXT,
                address TEXT,
                email TEXT)''')
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

def save_input():
    name = entry_name.get()
    address = entry_address.get()
    email = entry_email.get()

    if not is_valid_email(email):
        messagebox.showerror("Error", "Invalid email address!")
        return

    conn = sqlite3.connect('users.db')
    c = conn.cursor()
    c.execute("INSERT INTO users (name, address, email) VALUES (?, ?, ?)", (name, address, email))
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

    messagebox.showinfo("Success", "User data saved to database.")
    entry_name.delete(0, tk.END)
    entry_address.delete(0, tk.END)
    entry_email.delete(0, tk.END)

sqlite3.connect('users.db') connects to the database (or creates one if it doesn’t exist). Creates a users table if not already present. Saves name, address, and email using INSERT INTO users VALUES (?, ?, ?). Clears input fields after saving.

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6. Add Save Button

The button triggers save_input() when clicked.pady=10 adds space between the button and other elements.

tk.Button(window, text="Save", command=save_input).pack(pady=10)

You can see the output in the screenshot below.

Take User Input and Store It in a Variable Using Python Tkinter

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Conclusion

In this tutorial, I explained how to take user input and store it in a variable using Python Tkinter. I discussed step by step the process to create the Tkinter GUI, Retrieve user input, handle multiple input fields, validate user input, save user input to a database, and add a save button and by running the whole code we can get the desired output.