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

eval and exec are the correct solution, and they can be used in a safer manner.

As discussed in Python's reference manual and clearly explained in this tutorial, the eval and exec functions take two extra parameters that allow a user to specify what global and local functions and variables are available.

For example:

public_variable = 10

private_variable = 2

def public_function():
    return "public information"

def private_function():
    return "super sensitive information"

# make a list of safe functions
safe_list = ['public_variable', 'public_function']
safe_dict = dict([ (k, locals().get(k, None)) for k in safe_list ])
# add any needed builtins back in
safe_dict['len'] = len

>>> eval("public_variable+2", {"__builtins__" : None }, safe_dict)
12

>>> eval("private_variable+2", {"__builtins__" : None }, safe_dict)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'private_variable' is not defined

>>> exec("print \"'%s' has %i characters\" % (public_function(), len(public_function()))", {"__builtins__" : None}, safe_dict)
'public information' has 18 characters

>>> exec("print \"'%s' has %i characters\" % (private_function(), len(private_function()))", {"__builtins__" : None}, safe_dict)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'private_function' is not defined

In essence you are defining the namespace in which the code will be executed.

In the example a string is executed as code using the exec function.

import sys
import StringIO

# create file-like string to capture output
codeOut = StringIO.StringIO()
codeErr = StringIO.StringIO()

code = """
def f(x):
    x = x + 1
    return x

print 'This is my output.'
"""

# capture output and errors
sys.stdout = codeOut
sys.stderr = codeErr

exec code

# restore stdout and stderr
sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__
sys.stderr = sys.__stderr__

print f(4)

s = codeErr.getvalue()

print "error:\n%s\n" % s

s = codeOut.getvalue()

print "output:\n%s" % s

codeOut.close()
codeErr.close()

For statements, use exec(string) (Python 2/3) or exec string (Python 2):

>>> mycode = 'print "hello world"'
>>> exec(mycode)
Hello world

When you need the value of an expression, use eval(string):

>>> x = eval("2+2")
>>> x
4

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.