def input_list_of_strings():
   '''Prompts the user for a list of strings.  Returns a list of
   the strings.  For example, given input "['hello','there','bear']"
   return ['hello','there','bear'] '''

   lst = input("Enter a list of strings ")
   # Suppose lst is '["hello","there","brown","bear"]'

   lst = lst.split(',')
   # Now lst is ['["hello"', '"there"', '"brown"','"bear"]']
   #   lst[0] is '["hello"'
   #   lst[1] is '"there"'
   #   lst[2] is '"brown"'
   #   lst[3] is '"bear"]'
   #
   # The first and the last elements of the list need to be handled
   # as special cases
   #
   first = lst[0][2:-1]
   last = lst[-1][1:-2]

   # Initialize a new list to return
   new = []

   # Now, process all the elements between the first and the last
   
   for element in lst[1:-1]:
      # We don't want the extra quotes around the string
      new.append(element[1:-1])
   new.insert(0,first)
   new.append(last)
   return new

def main():
   print(input_list_of_strings())

main()