putting a variable inside of quotes in python

Question

I have just started learning Python. I am trying to have the user input a number base, and a number, and convert that to decimal.

I've been trying to use the built in int function like this:

base = raw_input("what number base are you starting with?  \n")
num = raw_input("please enter your number:  ")
int(num,base)

My problem is that when you use that int function, the number your converting needs to be in quotes like so: int('fff',16)

How can I accomplish this when im using a variable?

Answer 1

Quotes are not needed. The quotes are not part of the string.

>>> int('fff',16)
4095
>>> da_number = 'fff'
>>> int(da_number, 16)
4095

You will, however, need to cast the base to an integer.

>>> base = '16'
>>> int(da_number, base) # wrong! base should be an int.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: an integer is required
>>> int(da_number, int(base)) # correct
4095