Executing a script created by the end user

[Steven Bethard]

Craig Howard wrote:
> I am working on a python project where an object will have a script that 
> can be edited by the end user: object.script
> 
> If the script is a simple one with no functions, I can easily execute it 
> using:
>     exec object.script
> 
> But if the object script is a bit more complicated, such as the example 
> below, my approach does not  work:
> 
> def main():
>     hello1()
>     hello2()
> 
> def hello1():
>     print 'hello1'
> 
> def hello2():
>     print 'hello2'

What do you want to do if you get a script like this?  Run main?  You 
could do something like:

py> s = """
... def main():
...     hello1()
...     hello2()
...
... def hello1():
...     print 'hello1'
...
... def hello2():
...     print 'hello2'
... """
py> d = {}
py> exec s in d
py> d["main"]()
hello1
hello2

(Actually, you don't need to exec it in d, that's probably just good 
practice.)

Steve