How do I execute a string containing Python code in Python?

Question

How do I execute a string containing Python code in Python?

Answer 1

Avoid exec and eval

Using exec and eval in Python is highly frowned upon.

There are better alternatives

From the top answer (emphasis mine):

For statements, use exec.

When you need the value of an expression, use eval.

However, the first step should be to ask yourself if you really need to. Executing code should generally be the position of last resort: It's slow, ugly and dangerous if it can contain user-entered code. You should always look at alternatives first, such as higher order functions, to see if these can better meet your needs.

From Alternatives to exec/eval?

set and get values of variables with the names in strings

[while eval] would work, it is generally not advised to use variable names bearing a meaning to the program itself.

Instead, better use a dict.

It is not idiomatic

From http://lucumr.pocoo.org/2011/2/1/exec-in-python/ (emphasis mine)

Python is not PHP

Don't try to circumvent Python idioms because some other language does it differently. Namespaces are in Python for a reason and just because it gives you the tool exec it does not mean you should use that tool.

It is dangerous

From http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201206/eval_really_is_dangerous.html (emphasis mine)

So eval is not safe, even if you remove all the globals and the builtins!

The problem with all of these attempts to protect eval() is that they are blacklists. They explicitly remove things that could be dangerous. That is a losing battle because if there's just one item left off the list, you can attack the system.

So, can eval be made safe? Hard to say. At this point, my best guess is that you can't do any harm if you can't use any double underscores, so maybe if you exclude any string with double underscores you are safe. Maybe...

It is hard to read and understand

From http://stupidpythonideas.blogspot.it/2013/05/why-evalexec-is-bad.html (emphasis mine):

First, exec makes it harder to human beings to read your code. In order to figure out what's happening, I don't just have to read your code, I have to read your code, figure out what string it's going to generate, then read that virtual code. So, if you're working on a team, or publishing open source software, or asking for help somewhere like StackOverflow, you're making it harder for other people to help you. And if there's any chance that you're going to be debugging or expanding on this code 6 months from now, you're making it harder for yourself directly.