How to call a function stored in another file from a Python program?

Question

If I have a text file that contains a python function definition, how can I make the function call from another Python program. Ps: The function will be defined in the Pytho

Answer 1

You can use execfile:

execfile("path/example.py")

# example.py
# def example_func():
#     return "Test"
#

print example_func()
# >Test

EDIT:

In case you want to execute some unsecure code, you can try to sandbox it this way, although it is probably not very safe anyway:

def execfile_sandbox(filename):
    from copy import copy
    loc = globals()
    bi  = loc["__builtins__"]
    if not isinstance(bi, dict): bi = bi.__dict__ 

    bi = copy(bi)        
    # no files
    del bi["file"]    
    # and definitely, no import
    del bi["__import__"]
    # you can delete other builtin functions you want to deny access to

    new_locals = dict()
    new_locals["__builtins__"] = bi
    execfile(filename, new_locals, new_locals)

Usage:

try:
    execfile_sandbox("path/example.py")
except:
    # handle exception and errors here (like import error)
    pass