for handling buffered input

buffer.py

class UngetableInput:
    def __init__(self, initialBuffer=''):
        self.buffer = initialBuffer

    def getc(self):
        if not self.buffer:
            self.buffer = input()
        c = self.buffer[0]
        self.buffer = self.buffer[1:]
        return c

    def ungetc(self, c):
        self.buffer = c + self.buffer

    def getword(self):
        if not self.buffer:
            self.buffer = input()

        word = self.buffer.split()[0]
        self.buffer = ' '.join(self.buffer.split()[1:])
        return word

You might take a look at the Python module called deque which optimizes this kind of functionality.