What exaclty is the user entering? Why do you split the string input? What do you mean by "I am not getting the desired datatype" - are you writing the value to a field and that is failing?If they are just entering a number, i.e.4568
all you have to do is convert from a string to an integer:Pop_option_str = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
Pop_option = int(Pop_option_str)
or to be on the safe side:Pop_option_str = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
try: Pop_option = int(Pop_option_str) # try conversion
except ValueError: arcpy.AddError('Input was not integer...') # input was invalid...
If they are entering something more complex, you will need to provide more information to us before we can help you...