when Matt Parker started writing his Python script in this video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wim9WJeDTHQ ), I decided to pause it and write my own

persistence.py

import sys
import operator
from functools import reduce

def digit_product(n):
  return reduce(operator.mul, map(int, list(str(n))))

def persistence(n, return_pair=False):
  original = n
  digits = len(str(n))
  iterations = 0
  while digits > 1:
    n = digit_product(n)
    iterations += 1
    digits = len(str(n))
  return (original, iterations) if return_pair else iterations

def main(*args):
  if args:
    for arg in args:
      print(persistence(int(arg), return_pair=True))
  else:
    try:
      x = input("Enter a non-negative number: ")
      x = int(x)
    except ValueError as e:
      print(e)
      return 1
    else:
      print(persistence(x))
  return 0


if __name__ == "__main__":
  sys.exit(main(*(sys.argv[1:])))